OVERPOTENTIAL

Overpotential

Overpotential is an electrochemical term that refers to the potential difference between a half-reaction's thermodynamically determined reduction potential and the potential at which the redox event is experimentally observed. The term is directly related to a cell's voltage efficiency. In an electrolytic cell the overpotential requires more energy than thermodynamically expected to drive a reaction. In a galvanic cell overpotential means less energy is recovered than thermodynamics would predict. In each case the extra or missing energy is lost as heat. Overpotential is specific to each cell design and will vary between cells and operational conditions ...

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overpotential

Noun

  1. The difference between the electric potential of an electrode or cell under the passage of a current and the thermodynamic value of the electrode or cell potential in the absence of electrolysis


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: overpotential
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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