A unified theory of the impedance of electrode processes is presented. It is shown that the expression of impedance in terms of the Laplace variable, s, permits all cases of interest to be treated. The basic equations developed allow a finite rate for both charge transfer and adsorption, as well as mass transport, in a system of uniform potential distribution. The question of coupling of faradic and charging currents is treated in detail.The use of impedance as a characteristic function of electrochemical systems has long been recognized (1, 2). It was recently pointed out (3) that its expression in terms of the Laplace transform variable, s, enables impedance to be considered as a real (s ~ a) or complex (s ~ j~) function allowing both less ambiguity in mechanism detection and an increased frequency range to be achieved.The necessary quantities can be obtained by starting with the following general relationwhere it(s) is the faradaic current (i.e., that which involves the passage of charge across the interface) and ic(s) is the interfacial charging current (i.e., that which does not require the passage of charge across the interface). Equation [1] can be misleading, as has recently been pointed out (4-11), since both partial currents may contain double-layer and faradaic parameters if strong reactant adsorption is present. However, their expression in terms of s to develop impedance clearly shows how coupling may or may not exist and allows some interesting and usable limiting cases to be determined, which heretofore do not appear to have been described.
General TheoryTo illustrate ~his approach, it will be assumed that only the oxidized species need be taken into account (e.g., metal-metal ion electrode). Extension to any number of electroactive species is a trivial matter.The quantities if(s) and ic(S) in [1] must first be written in explicit form. For the former, the most general approach would be to express it in terms of the appropriate independent variables. Since the treatment below will assume finite kinetics for both charge transfer and adsorption, it is rigorous to pick both Co and r0 as well as E for these variables. However, since the (linearized) rate expression given below for r0 allows its dependence on Co (as well as E) to be established, it is sufficient to use only Co and E to describe if(s). (Note that this does not require Co and r0 to be in equilibrium.) It is to be remembered, nevertheless, that the variation of Co at the interface can in fact be obtained only if both charge transfer and adsorption (finite or otherwise) are taken into account. For the purposes of this study, the standard tinearized rate expression is employed realizing, however, that the most general form for it(s) does in fact consist in its expansion involving the well-known partial derivative coefficients. Note that, in the latter case, the parameters are lumped in such a way that the frequency variation of Co is no longer separable from either the dependence of if on E (i.e., charge transfer) or on Co. In order to expre...