Electrochimica Acta, Vol.44, No.24, 4373-4381, 1999
The role of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the global characterisation of the reduction kinetics of hexacyanoferrate on anodised titanium
To quantify the charge transfer (ct) step during the reduction of hexacyanoferrate, it is studied at a galvanostatically anodised polycrystalline Ti electrode, for which a ct controlled current can be observed over a large potential domain. In particular, the present study aims the characterisation of the electrode semiconducting properties (flat band potential E-fb and donor density N-D), in contact with the hexacyanoferrate system. Hereto, the use of EIS is essential for the determination of the space charge capacitance (C-sc) of the TiO2 layer, as a function of the applied potential E. A methodology is proposed to determine C-sc in a convenient way. In the high frequency range of the EIS measurements, only the solid state properties are being probed, and a simple series R-C-sc equivalent circuit becomes suitable. The validity of this method is checked through the analysis of different equimolar redox solutions. Finally, the values of E-fb and N-D are determined from the obtained non-linear Mott-Schottky plots (C-sc(-2) vs E). In particular, the donor density N-D is computed numerically from the instantaneous slope, by solving a finite difference equivalent of the relation for different discrete N-D(E) values.