On the charge transfer in the process of adsorption at the electrode/solution interface: Remarks on the paper “experimental determination and interpretation of the electrosorption valency γ” by J. Schultze and K. Vetter

A critical analysis shows that the approach to the estimation of the charge transfer in the process of adsorption at the electrode/solution interface used by Vetter and Schultze in the general case is not justified without introduction of non-thermodynamic models. This approach can prove useful in the investigation of the electric double layer within the limits of applicability of Grahame's model. A number of cases can however be cited where the approach of Schultze and Vetter is inapplicable. The conclusions of Schultze and Vetter regarding the adsorption of hydrogen at platinum are apparently based on some misunderstanding. In this case the thermodynamic approach^{6, 23} should be used.It would be more correct to call the quantity γ “the formal coefficient of charge transfer”, rather than “the electrosorption valency”.