Catalytic Hydrogen Evolution at the Dropping Mercury Electrode Caused by Organic Catalysts

Abstract

Catalytic hydrogen evolution in solutions of organic catalysts, including both antecedent protonation reactions and subsequent second-order reactions, is one of the most complicated electrochemical processes. However, since, in catalytic processes, the catalyst is completely regenerated at the dropping electrode surface, the development of equations for catalytic currents and the explanation of different effects came much earlier than for kinetic waves. Primarily for this reason, several phenomena described in Chapters IV, V, VI, and VIII (such as, for example, the effect of depolarizer adsorption on electrode processes) were first investigated in detail on catalytic hydrogen waves.