Ternary Electrodes Under Equilibriumor Near-Equilibrium Conditions

The previous chapter described binary electrodes, in which the microstructure is composed of phases made up of two elements. It was pointed out that there are also cases in which three elements are present, but only partial equilibrium can be obtained in experiments, so the electrode behaves as though it were composed of two, rather than three, components.

This chapter will discuss active materials that contain three elements, but have kinetic behavior such that they behave as true ternary systems. As before, it will be seen that phase diagrams and equilibrium electrochemical titration curves are very useful thinking tools in understanding the potentials and capacities of electrodes containing such materials.