Analysis of anodic current transient measured on Pd electrode with fractal surface: Hydrogen diffusion coupled with interfacial charge transfer

Hydrogen transport through Pd electrode with fractally rough surface was investigated in 0.1 M NaOH solution by analysis of the anodic current transient. The Pd electrode surfaces were electrochemically modified to be rough by redox cycling in 1 M H2SO4 solution. From the triangulation analysis of the atomic force microscopy images, it was found that the modified electrode surfaces exhibited self-similar scaling properties with different fractal dimensions, depending upon the number of redox cycles. The anodic current transient measured on the surface-modified fractal electrode subjected to the hydrogen discharging potentials of 0.3-0.7 V reversible hydrogen electrode, (RHE) showed the non-generalised Cottrell behaviour, which resulted from the constraint of hydrogen diffusion mixed with interfacial charge transfer during hydrogen transport. Especially, it displayed an inflexion point at the time that corresponds to the temporal outer cut-off of fractality, i.e. the crossover time required for the fractal to flat transition. In addition, the temporal outer cut-off under the constraint of mixed control was observed to be shortened with increasing hydrogen discharging potential, which could be accounted for by the increased growth rate of diffusion layer in the electrode accompanying the facilitated charge transfer kinetics at the electrode/electrolyte interface.