Analysis of commercial general engineering finite element software in electrochemical simulations

Electrochemical simulation via the solution of Fick’s Laws is a widely used technique to corroborate experimental results with well defined theory. This paper analyses use of ‘off-the-shelf’ finite element (FEM) software COMSOL Multiphysics™ in one, two and three-dimensional quantitative problems and under homogeneous and heterogeneous kinetic systems. Conclusions indicate that two-dimensional problems are within an order of magnitude of accuracy of finite difference simulations and analytical solutions, as long as the problem is well defined in the software and care is taken with regards to appropriate meshing and boundary conditions. Three-dimensional simulations relating to microdiscs result in steady-state current values not quantitatively compatible with experimental observations or analytical solutions.