Diffusion Mechanisms in Nanoelectrodes: Evaluating the Edge Effect

The diffusion mechanism in electrodes of nanoscale dimensions was investigated. We report the use of the Crank-Nicolson finite differential method in 2 dimensions to solve the diffusion mechanism in electrodes with a radius on the order of 10 nm. The behaviour of the boundary layer diffusion and the importance of edge effects on the current flow of electroactive ions in solution are also discussed in the context of the Compton-Dickinson double layer. The change in chemical potential indicated the preferred directions for the diffusion of electroactive species from reactants to products and their relationship with a Coulombic point charge at the nanoelectrode surface. This study assesses the contribution of the edge effect in low-dimensional electrodes towards the total current density observed in electrochemical experiments.