Modern State of Double Layer Study of Solid Metals

Remarkable progress has been achieved during the last 20 years in the experimental study of capacitance properties for a number of solid metals. Those are polycrystalline electrodes of Pb, Bi, Tl, Sb, Cd, Sn, Ga, In, Cu, Zn, Ag, and Au in contact with aqueous electrolyte solutions as well as, in some cases, with nonaqueous ones. Interfacial characteristics have also been measured for some single-crystal faces of Ag, Au, Cu, Zn, Bi, Pb, Cd, Sn in aqueous solutions. Moreover, capacitance properties of a single-crystal face in contact with a nonaqueous electrolyte solution, (111) Bi ethanol solutions, have been determined. A major contribution to this advance was made by a group of Soviet electrochemists headed by Frumkin. Some important results for gold and silver electrodes were obtained by French and Bulgarian scientists.