Using the well-known Cottrell asymptote, voltage-step transient (VST) experiments in a two-electrode cell may provide data on the bulk concentration and diffusion coefficient of a working depolarizer, essential for interpretation of liming-diffusion-current (LDC) experiments. However, the Cottrell asymptote is never applicable in the early stages of the voltage-step transient process.There are three additional transport resistances to the basic diffusion transport that cannot be neglected at extremely high initial currents: Faradaic resistance at the working electrode surface, overall Ohmic losses in the electrochemical cell, and a possible galvanometric constraint in the outer circuit, involving the galvanometer, current follower, potentiostat, etc. The effect of these additional transport resistances on the transient current at higher polarization voltage is non-linear. In the present analysis, a 1D approximation is used, assuming tacitly uniform accessibility of the working electrode and negligible transport resistances at the counter electrode. The Faradaic resistance of a redox couple O ? ne -= R according to ButlerVolmer electrode kinetics is considered. The results of 1D theory are corrected for edge effects using the Oldham asymptote. The effect of convection at longer times is included using the recent model of a transient process for circular working electrodes in the LDC regime.
List of symbols Variables
AEffective area of working electrode, m 2 A ? area of ideally smooth working electrode, m 2 B:c B;W O;R Molar concentration of depolarizers and their boundary values (mol m -2 s -1 ) D, D O,R Coefficient of diffusion; values for the components (m 2 s -1 ) d À1=2 T Semi-integral operator E = Exp[P] f = (E -1)/(E?B), Nernst-Petersen factor G = k G /k S , normalized galvanometric constraint I Current (A) J O,R Diffusion fluxes of depolarizers at surface (mol m -2 s -1Rate constant factor in Butler-Volmer kinetics (m s -1 ) k C = U/(nFAR C c B work ), Ohmic limit for k(t) (m s -1 ) k G = I G /(nFA c B work ), galvanometric constraint (m s -1 ) k S = lk C , starting (upper) limit for k(t) (m s -1 ) L C Equivalent resistor length (m) M: K/k C nFThe charge transfer per 1 mol of the working depolarizer (C mol -1 ) N = N(T) : k/k S , normalized flux O. Wein (&) Á