A new theory is presented to tackle the study of transfer processes of hydrophilic ions in two polarizable interface systems when the analyte is initially present in both aqueous phases. The treatment is applied to macrointerfaces (linear diffusion) and microholes (highly convergent diffusion), obtaining analytical equations for the current response in any voltammetric technique. The novel equations predict two signals in the current-potential curves that are symmetric when the compositions of the aqueous phases are identical while asymmetries appear otherwise. The theoretical results show good agreement with the experimental behavior of the "double transfer voltammograms" reported by Dryfe et al. in cyclic voltammetry (CV) ( Anal. Chem. 2014 , 86 , 435 - 442 ) as well as with cyclic square wave voltammetry (cSWV) experiments performed in the current work. The theoretical treatment is also extended to the situation where the target ion is lipophilic and initially present in the organic phase. The theory predicts an opposite effect of the lipophilicity of the ion on the shape of the voltammograms, which is validated experimentally via both CV and cSWV. For the above two cases, simple and manageable expressions and diagnosis criteria are derived for the qualitative and quantitative study of ion lipophilicity. The ion-transfer potentials can be easily quantified from the separation between the two signals making use of explicit analytical equations.
A rigorous and simple analytical solution is reported for the square scheme in single pulse techniques at (hemi)spherical electrodes when the electron transfers are reversible and the coupled chemical reactions are at equilibrium. The solution presented imposes no restriction to the values of the diffusion coefficients of the different species, and then it fully describes the cases where the coupled chemical processes involve significant changes of diffusivity. Simple criteria are discussed to understand and predict the effects of electrode radius, experiment time-scale and chemical thermodynamics on the results obtained in normal pulse voltammetry and derivative voltammetry. Unlike at macroelectrodes and ultramicroelectrodes, the position of the voltammograms (in these and other voltammetric techniques) is time dependent at spherical electrodes of intermediate size when the diffusion coefficients of the species are unequal. An analytical expression for the half-wave potential is given to describe this behaviour and also to assist the quantitative determination of the diffusion coefficients, formal potentials and equilibrium constants with the electrochemical techniques abovementioned.
The application of voltammetric techniques to the study of chemical speciation and stability is addressed both theoretically and experimentally in this work. In such systems, electrode reactions are coupled to homogeneous chemical equilibria (complexations, protonations, ion associations, ...) that can be studied in a simple, economical, and accurate way by means of electrochemical methods. These are of particular interest when some of the participating species are unstable given that the generation and characterization of the species are performed in situ and on a short time scale. With the above aim, simple explicit solutions are presented in this article for quantitative characterization with any voltammetric technique and with the most common electrode geometries. From the theoretical results obtained, it is pointed out that the use of square-wave voltammetry in combination with microelectrodes is very suitable. Finally, the theory is applied to the investigation of the ion association between the anthraquinone radical monoanion and the tetrabutylammonium cation in acetonitrile medium.
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