A Study of Hydrogen-Hydrogen lon Electrochemical Equilibrium on the Different Surface Conditions of Substrate Metals

Abstract

The homogeneous cells were constructed by dipping two electrodes of different surface conditions into a homogeneous solution and covered by hydrogen gas. Through the exhaustive discharge, the equilibrium state can be reached inside the homogeneous cells and constant residual potential were measured . This study is concentrated on hydrogen-hytrogen ion electrochemical equilibrium on different surface conditions of substrate metals. Large residual potentials were found for the homogeneous cells consisting of reversible hydrogen electrode and irreversible hydrogen electrode. Although the nonzero residual potentials can be explained by adsorption or electric double layer effect, the question whether the non-zero residual potential can be justified in terms of the principles of thermodynamics remains open.