Understanding the Difference between Inner- and Outer-Sphere Mechanisms: An Electrochemical Experiment
Luz María Torres, Adrián F. Gil, Laura Galicia, and Ignacio González
Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa, Departamento de Quimica, Apartado Postal 55-534, Mexico D. F. Mexico
The concepts of inner- and outer-sphere mechanisms for complex charge transfer reactions in homogeneous phase have been applied to heterogeneous charge transfer reactions. The influence of these mechanisms, on the electrochemical behavior of a redox couple, is presented through comparison of the electrochemical responses obtained by cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk voltammetry in different metallic substrates, for the [Fe(CN)6]3-/[Fe(CN)6]4- in sodium nitrate (outer sphere mechanism) and Fe(III)/Fe(II) in sulfuric acid medium (inner sphere mechanism). The obtention of quantitative evidence of these differences is also showed by the calculation of the kinetic parameters for these couples.
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