Spontaneous Dissolution of Metals in Polar Electrolytes

Abstract

WHEN a solid metal is dipped into a polar electrolyte, a spontaneous transient pulse of net current, carried across the interface by metal ions, generates a potential difference ΔV between the solid and the bulk of the liquid. It is then either offset by an opposite electron current (gas evolution) or, if the bulk of the electrolyte contains some concentration c_m(∞) of the metal ions to begin with, the familiar dissolution-deposition equilibrium supported by ΔV (which is calculated from c_m(∞) according to Nernst¹) may be established across the interface.