THERMODYNAMIC THEORY OF ELECTROCAPILLARITY FOR SOLID METAL-ELECTRODES

It is shown that the well-known electrocapillary equation for liquid electrodes is not valid for solid electrodes under elastic surface strain. A general thermodynamic derivation is given for the electrocapillary equation which is valid for solid metal electrodes under elastic surface strain. The particular form of this equation which applies to extensometer measurements is derived. It is shown that probably for typical extensometer measurements with very low elastic surface strain the difference between the measured elastic stress and the interfacial tension may be neglected. © 1979 American Chemical Society.