CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERING (1st Term, Final Exam)

(ULO4b. summarize the concept of electrochemical energy)

METALANGUAGE

Anode
 The positively charged electrode by which the electrons leave a device.
Battery
 A device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections
for powering electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, and electric cars.
Cathode
 the electrode of an electrochemical cell at which reduction occurs
Corrosion
 A natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable form
such as oxide, hydroxide, or sulfide.
 It is the gradual destruction of materials by chemical and/or electrochemical reaction
with their environment.
Electrochemistry
 the study of chemical processes that cause electrons to move
Electrode
 A solid electric conductor that carries electric current into non-metallic solids, or
liquids, or gases, or plasmas, or vacuums.
 Electrodes are typically good electric conductors, but they need not be metals.
Electrolysis
 A process by which electric current is passed through a substance to effect a chemical
change.
Electrolyte
 A substance that produces an electrically conducting solution when dissolved in a
polar solvent, such as water.
 The dissolved electrolyte separates into cations and anions, which disperse uniformly
through the solvent.
Fuel cell
 a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy
Oxidation
 loss of electrons
Redox
 A type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of atoms are changed.
 Redox reactions are characterized by the actual or formal transfer of electrons
between chemical species, most often with one species undergoing oxidation while
another species undergoes reduction.
Reduction
 gain of electrons
Salt bridge
 A tube containing an electrolyte (typically in the form of a gel), providing electrical
contact between two solutions.
Voltaic cell
 an electrochemical cell that uses a chemical reaction to produce electrical energy
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

Electrochemistry
 Electrochemistry is the study of chemical processes that cause electrons to move.
 This movement of electrons is called electricity, which can be generated by
movements of electrons from one element to another in a reaction known as an
oxidation-reduction ("redox") reaction.

 Electrochemistry and its principles constitute the fundamental base for the evolution
of numerous entities of the physical world and are also essential for all activities of
living beings.
 As a matter of course, electrochemical technology based on electrochemistry also
plays an important role in many modern manufacturing processes and products
especially in the fields of micro technology which revolutionize almost all aspects of
everyday life.
 Electrochemistry shows wide acceptability in achieving required shape of products
and implementation in micro manufacturing processes, which has been established as
a multibillion dollar market with applications in information, entertainment, medical,
automotive, telecom, and many other technologies

 Electrochemistry concerns chemical phenomena associated with charge separation,

usually in liquid media, such as solutions.
 The separation of charge is often associated with charge transfer, which can occur
homogeneously in solution between different chemical species, or heterogeneously on
electrode surfaces.
 It can thus be seen immediately that its applications are extremely wide and will be
indicated later.
 In order to ensure electro neutrality, two or more charge transfer half-reactions take
place simultaneously, in opposite directions: oxidation (loss of electrons or increase
in oxidation state) and reduction (gain of electrons or decrease in oxidation state)

Oxidation- Reduction Reaction

 Oxidation-reduction reaction, also called redox reaction, any chemical reaction in
which the oxidation number of a participating chemical species changes.
 The term covers a large and diverse body of processes.
 Many oxidation reduction reactions are as common and familiar as fire, the rusting
and dissolution of metals, the browning of fruit, and respiration and photosynthesis—
basic life functions.
 Most oxidation-reduction (redox) processes involve the transfer of oxygen atoms,
hydrogen atoms, or electrons, with all three processes sharing two important
characteristics:
 (1) they are coupled—i.e., in any oxidation reaction a reciprocal reduction occurs, and
 (2) they involve a characteristic net chemical change—i.e., an atom or electron goes
from one unit of matter to another

 Oxidation involves an increase in oxidation number, while reduction involves a

decrease in oxidation number.
  Usually, the change in oxidation number is associated with a gain or loss of electrons,
but there are some redox reactions (e.g., covalent bonding) that do not involve
electron transfer.
 Depending on the chemical reaction, oxidation and reduction may involve any of the
following for a given atom, ion, or molecule:
 Oxidation - involves the loss of electrons or hydrogen OR gain of oxygen OR
increase in oxidation state
 Reduction - involves the gain of electrons or hydrogen OR loss of oxygen OR
decrease in oxidation state

Balancing Redox Reactions

 To balance redox reactions, assign oxidation numbers to the reactants and products to
determine how many moles of each species are needed to conserve mass and charge.
 First, separate the equation into two half-reactions, the oxidation portion and the
reduction portion.
 This is called the half-reaction method of balancing redox reactions or the ion-
electron method.
 Each half-reaction is balanced separately and then the equations are added together to
give a balanced overall reaction.
 We want the net charge and number of ions to be equal on both sides of the final
balanced equation

Voltaic cell
 A voltaic cell is a cell where chemical reactions between dissimilar conductors
connected through an electrolyte and a salt bridge produce electric energy.
 A galvanic cell can also be powered by spontaneous oxidation reduction reactions.
 Essentially, a galvanic cell channels the electrical energy produced by the electron
transfer in a redox reaction.
 The electrical energy or current may be sent to a circuit, such as in a television or light
bulb

 In redox reactions, electrons are transferred from one species to another.

 If the reaction is spontaneous, energy is released, which can then be used to do useful
work.
 To harness this energy, the reaction must be split into two separate half reactions: the
oxidation and reduction reactions.
 The reactions are put into two different containers and a wire is used to drive the
electrons from one side to the other. In doing so, a Voltaic/ Galvanic Cell is created.

STANDARD REDUCTION POTENTIAL

 Standard cell potential (E°cell) is defined as the potential of a cell measured under
standard conditions—that is, with all species in their standard states (1 M for
solutions, concentrated solutions of salts (about 1 M) generally do not exhibit ideal
behavior, and the actual standard state corresponds to an activity of 1 rather than a
concentration of 1 M.
 Corrections for non-ideal behavior are important for precise quantitative work but not
for the more qualitative approach that we are taking here.
 1 atm for gases, pure solids or pure liquids for other substances) and at a fixed
temperature, usually 25°C
 As stated above, the standard reduction potential is the likelihood that a species will
be reduced.
 It is written in the form of a reduction half reaction. An example can be seen below
where "A" is a generic element and C is the charge.

AC++Ce−→A(1)(1)AC++Ce−→A
Cell Potentials under Standard Conditions
 Standard cell potential is the potential of a cell measured under standard conditions
or just simply the difference between the reduction potentials.
 When solving for the standard cell potential, the species oxidized and the species
reduced must be identified.
 This can be identified using the table above. Standard Cell Potential can be identified
using the equation below:

E°cell=E°cathode−E°anode
Wherein:

E°cell= Standard Cell Potential

E°cathode= standard potential value of the element being reduced
E°anode= standard potential value of the element being oxidized.

Oxidation-Reduction Reaction (Redox Reaction)

 A type of chemical change where electron transfer occurs is classified as an
oxidation-reduction or simply called as redox process.
 The ability of the electrons to be transferred from one species to another is dependent
on the species’ reduction or oxidation potential.

 Oxidation involves the loss of electrons by substance being oxidized.

 The substance that oxidizes it is called oxidizing agent and causes itself to be reduced
during the process.
 On the other hand, Reduction involves the gain of electron by substance being
reduced.
 The substance that reduces it is called reducing agent in turn causes itself to be
oxidized.

 Strong oxidizing agents are typically compounds with elements in high oxidation
states or with high electronegativity, which gain electrons in the redox reaction.
 Reducing agents are typically electropositive elements such as hydrogen, lithium,
sodium, iron, and aluminum, which lose electrons in redox reactions
Emf, Free Energy, and the Equilibrium Constant

 Electromotive force (Emf) is a characteristic of any energy source capable of driving

electric charge around a circuit. In other words, it is the energy thereby gained per
unit electric charge.
Formula: Emf= V ＋ Ir

 Free energy is the energy required by a system in order to work.

 There are two types of Free energy: the Helmholtz free energy and Gibbs free
energy.
 Helmholtz free energy is the maximum amount of work a system can do at constant
volume and temperature. We can use it when the pressure is changing during the work
of the system.
 Gibbs Free energy the maximum amount of work a system can do at constant
pressure and temperature

 Equilibrium constant (K) is the ratio of concentration of the products to the

concentration of the reactants.
 It is used to expresses the relationship between products and reactants of a reaction at
equilibrium in a reversible chemical reaction at a given temperature.

Cell Potentials under Non-Standard Conditions

 Redox reaction in the real world rarely occur under
standard conditions.
 Thus, to still determine the direction of the electron in
any conditions, we can use the Nernst Equation.

 In 1889, Walter Nernst (1864-1941), a German

scientist develop a mathematical relationship that
enable us to calculate cell potentials and the direction
of a spontaneous reaction at, other than standard-state
condition.
 General form of Nernst Equation:
Concentration Cell
 The Concentration cell is a type of galvanic cell that is comprised of two halfcells
with the same electrodes but differing in concentrations.
 A concentration cell acts to dilute the more concentrated solution and concentrate the
more dilute solution creating a voltage as the cell reaches an equilibrium.
 This is achieved by transferring the electrons from the cell with the lower
concentration to the cell with higher concentration

 There are two main types of Concentration cell:

 Electrolyte Concentration Cell
 Electrolyte Concentration cell comprises of two same electrodes that
are dipped in an electrolyte which possesses different concentration
level.
 Electrode Concentration cell
 Electrode concentration cell consists of two cells where identical
electrodes are dipped in the same solution with different levels of
concentrations.

BATTERIES, FUEL CELLS, CORROSION AND ELECTROLYSIS

 One of the oldest and most important applications of electrochemistry is to the storage
and conversion of energy.
 Devices that carry out these conversions are called batteries.
 Batteries are so ubiquitous nowadays as they are almost invisible to us. Alessandro
Volta an Italian physicist invented the first true battery out of stacked discs of copper
(Cu) and zinc (Zn) separated by cloth soak in salty water in 1800.

 Batteries are very essential device as they store chemical energy that is converted into
electricity.
 Throughout time battery technology brought undeniably innovations to mankind as
they were developed with enough capacity to store the power generated with domestic
solar or wind systems which tend to supply and power our home at more convenient
way.

BATTERY
 A battery is an electrochemical cell or series of cells that produces an electric current.
It contains all the reactants needed to produce electricity
 There are two basic types of battery namely as;

 Primary(disposable) batteries
 Primary (disposable) batteries are single-use batteries because they
cannot be recharged. Common primary battery is the dry cell, alkaline
and button battery.
 The dry cell is a zinc-carbon battery. The zinc can serve as both a
container and the negative electrode.
  The positive electrode is a rod made of carbon that is surrounded by a
paste of manganese oxide, zinc chloride, ammonium chloride, carbon
powder, and a small amount of water.
 Alkaline batteries were developed in the 1950s partly to address some
of the performance issues with zinc– carbon dry cells. They are
manufactured to be exact replacements for zinc-carbon dry cells.
 As their name suggests, these types of batteries use alkaline
electrolytes, often potassium hydroxide. It can deliver about three to
five times the energy of a zinc carbon dry cell of similar size.
 Button batteries are small disc-shaped batteries containing lithium,
zinc, mercury, silver, or manganese.
 The major advantages of the mercury and silver cells are their
reliability and their high output-to-mass ratio.
 These factors make them ideal for applications where small size is
crucial, as in cameras and hearing aids

 Secondary (rechargeable) batteries.

 Secondary (rechargeable) batteries is a type of electrical battery which
can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as
opposed to a disposable or primary battery, which is supplied fully
charged and discarded after use.
 These are the types of batteries found in devices such as smartphones,
electronic tablets, and automobiles.
 The most common rechargeable batteries are lead acid, Nickel-
cadmium, Nickel-metal-hydride and Lithium-ion. Lead-acid battery is
the oldest rechargeable battery system, it is the type of secondary
battery used in your automobile.
 It is inexpensive and capable of producing the high current required by
automobile starter motors. Nickel-cadmium battery is consisting of a
nickel-plated cathode, cadmium-plated anode, and a potassium
hydroxide electrode.
 Used in where long service life, high discharge current and extreme
temperatures are required.
 Main applications are power tools, medical devices, aviation and UPS.
 Nickel-metalhydride serves as a replacement for Nickel-cadmium as it
has only mild toxic metals and provides higher specific energy.
 Nickel-metal hydride is used for medical instruments, hybrid cars and
industrial applications.
 Ni-MH battery packs are finding immediate use in portable electronic
applications such as laptop, notebook, and subnotebook computers,
cellular communication devices, and consumer electronic devices such
as camcorders.
 Lithium-ion battery are among the most popular rechargeable batteries
and are used in many portable electronic devices. Lithium-ion batteries
are common in home electronics.
 They are one of the most popular types of rechargeable batteries for
portable electronics, with a high energy density, tiny memory effect
and low self-discharge. LIBs are also growing in popularity for
military, battery electric vehicle and aerospace applications
FUEL CELLS
 A fuel cell is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy.
 Fuel cells are similar to batteries but require a continuous source of fuel, often
hydrogen.
 They will continue to produce electricity as long as fuel is available

 Hydrogen fuel cells is a process of using hydrogen as fuel and it will react with
oxygen to form electricity, water, and heat as the products. It’s been used to supply
power for satellites, space capsules, automobiles, boats, and submarines

CORROSION
 The gradually degradation of metals due to an electrochemical process.
 Formation of rust on iron, tarnish on silver, and the blue-green patina that develops on
copper are all examples of corrosion
 Corrosion occurs when most or all of the atoms on the same metal surface are
oxidized, damaging the entire surface.
 Mostly of metals are easily oxidized: they tend to lose electrons to oxygen and other
substances in the air or in water.

CORROSION OF IRON
 The corrosion of iron is better known as rusting.
 It is an oxidation-reduction process that destroys iron objects left out in open, moist
air.
 The whole subject of corrosion of iron is therefore an electrochemical one, and the
rate of the corrosion is simply a function of electromotive force and resistance of
circuit

Oxidation half-reaction: Fe(s)→Fe2+(aq)+2e- Equation 1

Reduction half-reaction: O2(g) + 2H2O(l) + 4e- → 4OH- (aq) Equation 2
2Fe(s)+ O2(g)+2H2O(l)→2Fe2+(aq)+4OH- (aq) Equation 3
Fe2+(aq)+2OH- (aq)→Fe(OH)2(s) Equation 4
4Fe(OH)2(s) + O2(g) + xH2O(I)→ 2Fe2O3•(x+4)H2O(s) Rust Equation 5

PREVENTING CORROSSION OF IRON

 We commonly use iron and other steel products in different ways to improve our daily
basis of living easier and efficiently. So, preventing the rusting of this materials is
given prioritize nowadays.
 A lot of ways to prevent iron from rusting but the most common and best way are
galvanization, painting, electroplating.
 Galvanization is a process in which the Iron sheets are coated with a layer of Zinc
which prevents rusting. Zinc is more reactive than iron so when we used it as a shield
this element will oxidized faster rather than the iron.
 Painting the Iron surface will create a barrier between the Iron and the atmosphere,
which will protect the Iron from rusting.
 Iron sheets can be electroplated with a metal which is more reactive than Iron, so that
instead of the Iron getting oxidized, the other metal gets oxidized this process called
as electroplating
ELECTROLYSIS
 Electrolysis is a process by which electric current is passed through a substance to
effect a chemical change.
 The process is carried out in an electrolytic cell, an apparatus consisting of positive
and negative electrodes held apart and dipped into a solution containing positively and
negatively charged ions.
 According to Adam Felman (2017), an electrolyte is a substance that conducts
electricity when dissolved in water.
 According to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2010), electrodes any terminal that
conducts an electric current into or away from various conducting substances in a
circuit, as the anode or cathode in a battery or the carbons in an arc lamp, or that
emits, collects, or controls the flow of electrons in an electron tube, as the cathode,
plate, or grid.
 Anode is considered negative and Cathode positive for Electrochemical Cells (Voltaic
or Galvanic Cell) which Redox Reaction happens spontaneously.
 While the opposite occurs for the Electrolytic Cell, Anode is considered positive and
cathode is considered negative, because an external power supply is added and force
the redox reaction to occur backward, making such a not spontaneous redox reaction
to happen Zerobyte Johnsons (2017).

ELECTROLYTIC CELL
 An electrolytic cell converts electrical energy into chemical energy. Here, the anode is
positive and cathode is the negative electrode.
 The reaction at the anode is oxidation and that at the cathode is reduction.
 The concept of reversing the direction of the spontaneous reaction in a galvanic cell
through the input of electricity is at the heart of the idea of electrolysis.
The Electrolysis of Molten Sodium Chloride
 In molten sodium chloride, the ions are free to migrate to the electrodes of an
electrolytic cell.
 A simplified diagram of the cell commercially used to produce sodium metal and
chlorine gas.
 A simplified diagram of the cell commercially used to produce sodium metal and
chlorine gas.

 Passing an electric current through molten sodium chloride decomposes the material
into sodium metal and chlorine gas.
 Care must be taken to keep the products separated to prevent the spontaneous
formation of sodium chloride.

The Electrolysis of Water

  Electrolysis of water is the decomposition to give hydrogen and oxygen gases due to
the passage of an electric current.
 According to OpenStax (2016), it is possible to split water into hydrogen and oxygen
gas by electrolysis. Acids
are typically added to
increase the concentration
of hydrogen ion in
solution.

 Water decomposes into oxygen and

hydrogen gas during electrolysis.
 Sulfuric acid was added to increase the
concentration of hydrogen ions and the
total number of ions in solution, but does
not take part in the reaction.
 The volume of hydrogen gas collected is
twice the volume of oxygen gas collected,
due to the stoichiometry of the reaction.

The Electrolysis of Aqueous Sodium Chloride

 The electrolysis of aqueous sodium
chloride is the more common example of
electrolysis because more than one species can be oxidized and reduced.
 When the experiment is run, it turns out chlorine, not oxygen, is produced at the
anode.
 The unexpected process is so common in electrochemistry that it has been given the
name overpotential.
 The overpotential is the difference between the theoretical cell voltage and the actual
voltage that is necessary to cause electrolysis.

QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF ELECTROLYSIS

 The amount of current that is allowed to flow in an electrolytic cell is related to the
number of moles of electrons.
 The number of moles of electrons can be related to the reactants and products using
stoichiometry (OpenStax, 2016).
 According to Moore et al. (2017), a simple relationship between the amount of
substance produced or consumed at an electrode during electrolysis and the quantity
of electrical charge Q which passes through the cell discovered by Michael Faraday in
the year 1833.

The Faraday constant

 The Faraday constant is the single most important information in electrolysis
calculations.
 The charge that each electron carries is 1.60 x 10 ^ -19 coulombs.
 That means the 1 mole of electrons must carry6.02 x 10^23 x 1.60 x 10^-19
coulombs= 96320 coulombs.
 It is usually taken as 9.65 x 10^4 C mol-1(coulombs per mole) or 96500 coulombs per
mole.
Coulombs
 The coulomb is a measure of the quantity of electricity. If a current of 1 amp flows for
1 second, then 1 coulomb of electricity has passed.

Number of coulombs = current in amps x time in seconds