Determination of solid phase chemical diffusion coefficient and density of states by electrochemical methods:: Application to iridium oxide-based thin films

Potentiostatic intermittent titration technique (PITT) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were investigated as methods to determine solid phase chemical diffusion coefficient (D) and electronic density of states (DOS). These techniques were then applied to iridium oxide (IrOx) and iridium-tantalum oxide (IrTaOx) thin films prepared by sputter deposition. The experiments, performed in 1M propionic acid between -0.2 and 0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl, showed effects of interfacial side reactions, whose contribution to the electrochemical response could be identified and corrected for in the case of PITT as well as EIS. It was found that D is strongly underestimated when using PITT with the common Cottrell formalism, which follows from non-negligible interfacial charge transfer and Ohmic resistances. EIS indicated an anomalous diffusion mechanism, and D was determined to be in the 10(-11)-10(-10) cm(2)/s range for IrOx and IrTaOx. Both PITT and EIS showed that the intercalated charge as a function of potential exhibits a shape that resembles the theoretical DOS of crystalline iridium oxide, especially for IrTaOx. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.