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Understanding Nano‐Impacts: Binary Nature of Charge Transfer during Mediated Reactions
Author(s) -
Kätelhön Enno,
Compton Richard G.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201402280
Subject(s) - electrode , charge (physics) , particle (ecology) , electron transfer , chemical physics , binary number , quantum tunnelling , current (fluid) , nanotechnology , materials science , nano , analyte , chemistry , optoelectronics , thermodynamics , physics , quantum mechanics , oceanography , mathematics , composite material , geology , arithmetic
We report mediated charge transfer across a nanoparticle that Faradaically interacts with its surrounding solution while impacting on an electrochemically inactive electrode. To this end, two different aspects of the process are elucidated and interconnected: The Faradaic reaction at the particle surface and electron tunnelling between the electrode and the particle. Results demonstrate that the charge transfer can be described through a binary model, in which the current switches between the limiting Faradaic current and no current at all as a function of the electrode–particle distance, while the response is largely unrelated to the analyte’s formal potential. This finding allows a significantly simplified modelling approach in future studies.