Course content

Electric potentials and fields. Conductivity and capacitance. Thermodynamics of aqueous solutions: Activities and the Debye-Hückel-model. Electrolysis cells and galvanic cells with and without transfer. Potential differences across Liquid junctions. Electrosynthesis of metals and chemicals, electrodialysis and salt splitting. UN goals for sustainable development: Electrochemical energy storage in hydrogen and batteries, environmental electrochemistry, and applications of electrochemistry in biotechnology. Fuel cells. Electrodes and electrode reactions. Electrode kinetics: Current-voltage characteristics of charge-transfer reactions. Reaction orders. Transport processes and mass transfer coefficients. Green electrochemistry and UN goals for sustainable development: Electrochemistry in analysis of the environment and environmental remediation. Electrochemical description of biological cells. Transport-, activation- and ohmic overpotential. The electrochemical double layer in brief. Demonstration of a rotating electrode and a potensiostat.

Sustainability relevance. Examples and problem sets related to the UN sustainability goals: hydrogen as an energy carrier, electrochemical energy storage, energy-efficient metal production, electrochemical sensors for pollution control and environmental surveillance, bioelectrochemical sensor, electrochemical remediation.

Digitalization relevance: Numerical solution in Python for calculating overpotentials, solving transport equations and more.

Learning outcome

Upon course completion the student is able to - define central parts of electrochemical cells and electrochemical equipment such as anode, cathode, membrane, diaphragm, liquid junction, reference electrode, and potentiostat - define and relate mathematically basic physical and thermodynamic concepts related to electrochemical cells such as electric potential, electric field, cell potential, null potential, electrochemical potential, and activity - account for sign conventions - account for the electrochemical series and representation of electrochemical thermodynamics in Pourbaix diagrams - define and describe mathematically diffusion, migration, and convection -define transport, kinetic and ohmic overpotential -calculate the combined transport and kinetic overpotential for electrodes at which a one-electron reaction takes place and for which transport can be described through mass transfer coefficients - calculate ohmic overpotential for dilute solutions for macro- and microelectrodes such as trough electrodes, hemispherical electrodes, and disk electrodes - graphical representation of current-voltage relations for electrode reactions - calculate liquid-junction and membrane potentials in simple cases - analyze a given electrochemical cell or experiment, judge to which extent the approximations underlying the above equations apply, and explain and predict quantitatively the outcome for cases in which they do - describe the structure of the electrified interface, and define and describe mathematically the capacitance of the Helmholz layer - give an overview of applications of electrochemistry in synthesis and purification of materials and chemicals, energy storage, biology, and analysis and remediation of the environment, and provide a description of selected processes within these areas

Learning methods and activities

Lectures, exercises and term tests. The term tests and 2/3 of the exercises must be approved to qualify for the exam. The problem sets include training in use of digital tools for simulation of electrochemical processes as well as application of the theory on problems related to the UN sustainability goals. During the course an excursion to visit electrochemical industries may be arranged. The total workload is 200 hours.

Compulsory assignments

• Exercises
• Midt term

Recommended previous knowledge

Basic knowledge of chemistry and physics corresponding to TMT4110 Chemistry, TMT4115 General Chemistry and TFY4104 or TFY4125 Physics. A basic knowledge of engineering mathematics corresponding to TMA4100 Mathematics 1, TMA4105 Mathematics 2, and TMA4110 or TMA4115 Mathematics 3.

Course materials

K. B. Oldham, J. C. Myland, and A. B. Bond, Electrochemical Science and Technology, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (2012), ISBN 978047071045 (PB). Also availabele as e-book and in HB.

Credit reductions