ELECTROCHEMISTRY

Syllabus:-
Ø  Electrolytic cells & Galvanic cells
Ø  Redox reaction, EMF of cell, standard electrode potential
Ø  Nernst equation and its application to Chemical cell
Ø  Conductance in electrolytic solutions, Conductance, Conductivity, Cell Constant
Ø  Specific & Molar Conductivity, Variation of Conductivity and molar Conductivity with            Concentration, Limiting Molar Conductivity
Ø  Kohlrausch’s Law, Applications of Kohlrausch Law
Ø  Electrolysis & Laws of Electrolysis
Ø  Chemistry of Cells and Batteries, dry cell, Lead Storage Battery, Mercury Cell, fuel cell
                      Chemistry of Corrosion.


Electrochemistry: It is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relationship between chemical energy and electrical energy and their inter conversions.

Redox Reactions: Oxidation is the process which involves loss of electrons & reduction is a process in which it involves gain of electrons. The reactions which involve both that reaction simultaneously are called as redox reaction.

Electrochemical Cells: These are devices that convert chemical energy of some redox reactions to electrical energy. They are also called Galvanic cells or Voltaic cells. An example for Galvanic cell is Daniel cell.
      It is constructed by dipping a Zn rod in ZnSO4 solution and a Cu rod in CuSO4 solution. The two solutions are connected externally by a metallic wire through a voltmeter and a switch and internally by a salt bridge.
A salt bridge is a U-tube containing an inert electrolyte like NaNO3 or KNO3 in a gelly like substance. 
The functions of a salt bridge are:
                1. To complete the electrical circuit
               2. To maintain the electrical neutrality in the two                           half   cells.
                    (i)  Cu2+ + 2 e- → Cu(s) (reduction half reaction)
                    (ii)  Zn(s) → Zn2+ + 2 e- (oxidation half reaction)
These reactions occur in two different portions of the Daniel cell. The reduction half reaction occurs on the copper electrode while the oxidation half reaction occurs on the zinc electrode. These two portions of the cell are also called half-cells or redox couples. The copper electrode may be called the reduction half-cell and the zinc electrode, the oxidation half-cell.

Electrode Potential: This tendency of a metal to lose or gain electron when it is in contact with its own solution is called electrode potential.

Standard electrode potential (E0): The electrode potential measured at standard conditions.ie at 298K,1 atm pressure and at 1 molar concentration.

Standard hydrogen electrode (SHE): The reference electrode used to measure single electrode potential. Its potential is assumed to be zero. It consists of a platinum wire dipped in HCl of 1 molar concentration. Hydrogen gas at 1 atm. is passed through the solution. The electrode can be represented as Pt, H2 /H+(1M).

      Nernst Equation For A Cell Reaction:-

aA   +   bB      →     cC   +   dD
E = E0cell  –   2.303 RT * log [C]c [D]d
                        nF                 [A]a [B]b
      Where E0 is the standard electrode potential,
      R is the gas constant (8.314 JK–1 mol–1)
      F is Faraday constant (96500 C mol–1)
      T is temperature in Kelvin.
Nernst equation can be written as:
On Putting the above values Nernst equations can be written as:

                    

Equilibrium Constant from Nernst Equation:


Electrochemical Cell and Gibbs Energy of the Reaction:
Electrical work done in one second is equal to electrical potential multiplied by total charge passed. The reversible work done by a galvanic cell is equal to decrease in its Gibbs energy and therefore, if the emf of the cell is E and nF is the amount of charge passed and ∆G is the Gibbs energy of the reaction, then
                     ∆G = –  nFEcell
If the concentration of all the reacting species is unity, then Ecell = E0cell and we have
                     ∆G0 = – nFE0 cell
Thus, from the measurement of E0cell, we can calculate the standard Gibbs energy of the reaction.



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