Methods—Analyzing Electrochemical Kinetic Parameters in Deep Eutectic Solvents Using an Extended Butler-Volmer Equation

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are promising electrolytes for electrochemical redox reactions, which can be used in redox flow batteries (RFBs). However, in some systems like the Fe2+/3+ redox reaction in ethaline, traditional Tafel-based kinetic analysis generates unreasonable kinetic parameters (i.e., large anodic/cathodic charge transfer coefficients (α a, α c) along with low exchange current densities (i 0)). This hinders a comprehensive kinetic and kinetic mechanism study. Here, we perform a detailed investigation of the Tafel analysis using a series of synthetic rotating disk electrode (RDE) data. We find the Tafel analysis only works well when i 0 < 0.57 i lim (limiting current density) in our scenario and leads to abnormal kinetic values once i 0 exceeds this limiting value. Thus, we propose an extended Butler-Volmer (ex-BV) analysis based on modern non-linear fitting techniques to obtain the actual kinetic parameters for such systems. The results show that this method fits the RDE data closely and generates reliable α a, α c and i 0 values, demonstrating that it is a good replacement for traditional Tafel analysis for kinetic studies in high-viscosity electrolytes such as DES systems.