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Voltaic Cells in Electrochemistry and SurfaceA
Chemistry of LiquidsA

Zbigniew Koczorowi

Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, ul.Pasteura I, 02-093 Warsaw ¨oland

I. INTRODUCTION

The Volta potential is defined as the difference between the electrostatic
outer potentials of two condensed phases in equilibrium.= The measure -
ment of this and related quantities is performed using a system of voltaic
cells.= This technique, which in some applications is called the surface
potential method, is one of the oldest but still frequently used experimental
methods for studying phenomena at electrified solid and liquid surfaces
and interfaces.= The difficulty with the method, which in fact is common
to most electrochemical methods, is lack of molecular specificity. How-
ever, combined with modern surface-sensitive methods such as spectros-
copy, it can provide important physicochemical information. Even
without such complementary molecular information, the voltaic cell
method is still the source of much basic electrochemical data.=
The aim of this review is to describe the fundamentals of the voltaic
cell method and to outline its applications in electrochemistry. Only
fragmentary information concerning this topic is available in boàs and
articles. 1-19
This review is arranged as follows.= After a short review of the basic
definitions and significance of the various potentials which are assumed
to exist at free surfaces and interfaces, the nature and most important
features of voltaic cells, including their measurement techniques, are

Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry, Number 34, edited by John O'M. Bockris et al.
Kluwer Academic /Plenum Publishers, New YoÀ, 2001.

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