Electrode disorder, electrochemical processes and governing length scales

Abstract

Surface of a solid electrode ubiquitously possesses morphological and energetic disorders, and therefore it greatly influences their thermodynamics, kinetics and transport properties. Also, the anomalies in an electrochemical response are governed by the synergistic effect of the morphological and phenomenological lengths. For theoretical understanding of disordered systems, it becomes mandatory to characterize these length scales, and their dependence on electrochemical and morphological characteristics. In this review, we mainly focus on two aspects: (1) statistical characterization of electrode surface using FE-SEM micrographs and electrochemical microscopic area, and (2) the physical significance of various length scales arising in theoretical models and electrode surface topography. Finally, a common scale is generated to show the synergistic effects of morphological and phenomenological length scales in disordered electrochemical system.