Electrostatic effect of specifically adsorbed electroinactive ions upon electrode processes: Part VIII. Cu2+ reduction and Cu°(Hg) oxidation in perchloric acid

The effect of the specific adsorption of the ClO₄^? ion upon the kinetics of Cu²⁺ reduction and Cu⁰(Hg) oxidation in aqueous solutions of HClO₄ was investigated using chronocoulometry, d.c., normal pulse, and a.c. polarography. For this purpose three different sets of data for ClO₄^? adsorption were used. In the first set the absolute surface excess of water as reckoned at the outer Helmholtz plane (o.H.p.) was disregarded, in the second set it was accounted for by postulating a complete adsorbed monolayer of water molecules 32], whereas in the third set partial displacement of water molecules from this monolayer by adsorbed ClO₄^? ions was accounted for. Kinetic data were found to the compatible with the latter set, indicating that ClO₄^? adsorption affects the rate-determining step Cu²⁺+e→Cu⁺ only by altering the average electric potential σ_d-effect). The absence of any additional electrostatic effect points out that, in the transition state for Cu²⁺ reduction to Cu⁺, the centre of charge of the reacting particle falls in the proximity of the o.H.p.