EFFECT OF ELASTIC-DEFORMATION ON INTERFACIAL CONDUCTIVITY

Reversible deformation has been observed to affect the kinetics of, charge transport across an electrode-electrolyte interface. At a fixed current, a steady-state elastic extension of a platinum electrode increases the hydrogen overvoltage. The derivative of the overvoltage with respect to the strain was measured. The predominant component of this derivative is independent of the current. The argument in an exponential representation of the decay of the exchange current as a function of the extension has been found. An increase in the distance between the surface platinum atoms strengthens their bonds with adsorbed hydrogen atoms, thereby reducing the discharging current, but it does not have any substantial effect on the contribution of the overvoltage to the lowering of the activation energy. The effect observed here might be utilized to obtain new and independent information on the elementary event of the reaction.