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What is the activation energy for the oxidation of hydrogen gas at a Pt electrode, where the overpotential is 100 mV and the current density is 0.5 mA/cm2?

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To calculate the activation energy for the oxidation of hydrogen gas at a Pt electrode, we can use the Tafel equation, which relates the overpotential    to the exchange current density  i0  and the current density  i  for an electrochemical reaction: =  2.303 * RT  /   * n * F  * log i / i0 where: = overpotential  100 mV = 0.1 V R = gas constant  8.314 J/molK T = temperature  assuming room temperature, 298 K  = charge transfer coefficient  assumed to be 0.5 for a one-electron transfer process n = number of electrons transferred  for hydrogen oxidation, n = 2 F = Faraday's constant  96485 C/mol i = current density  0.5 mA/cm = 5 A/m i0 = exchange current density  unknown First, we need to solve for i0:0.1 V =  2.303 * 8.314 J/molK * 298 K  /  0.5 * 2 * 96485 C/mol  * log 5 A/m / i0 0.1 V =  2.303 * 8.314 J/molK * 298 K  /  0.5 * 2 * 96485 C/mol  * log 5 A/m / i0 Now, we can solve for i0:log 5 A/m / i0  = 0.1 V *  0.5 * 2 * 96485 C/mol  /  2.303 * 8.314 J/molK * 298 K log 5 A/m / i0   0.1 V *  96485 C/mol  /  2.303 * 8.314 J/molK * 298 K log 5 A/m / i0   4.475 A/m / i0 = 10^4.47i0  5 A/m / 10^4.47  3.37  10 A/mNow that we have the exchange current density  i0 , we can calculate the activation energy  Ea  using the Arrhenius equation:Ea = - * n * F *  d ln i0  / d 1/T  Assuming the activation energy is constant over the temperature range of interest, we can approximate the derivative as:Ea = - * n * F *  ln i0_2  - ln i0_1   /  1/T_2 - 1/T_1 Unfortunately, we do not have enough information to calculate the activation energy  Ea  directly, as we would need the exchange current density  i0  at a second temperature  T_2  to determine the temperature dependence of the reaction.

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