Methods for the Calculation of Polarization in Porous Electrodes

Abstract

Solutions in closed form are presented for the polarization behavior and the distribution of current and potential in idealized, one‐dimensional porous electrodes in the case of a simple oxidation‐reduction reaction under pure activation control. Exact solutions are derived for transfer coefficients of 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 for electrodes of finite length, while solutions for semi‐infinite electrodes are given for transfer coefficients of 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4. An approximate method for calculating current and potential distributions in porous electrodes is proposed which is valid for any value of the transfer coefficient, and exact and approximate solutions are compared.