Abstract
BY means of the polarographic method with a dropping mercury cathode, Prof. J. Heyrovský, in collaboration with Dr. J. Novák, has been able to advance knowledge of hydrogen overvoltage (Coll. Czechoslovak Chem. Com., 9, 207, 273 and 344 ; 1937). By this delicate method they were able to register significant differences in current voltage curves in light and heavy water, with special reference to hydrogen overvoltage. They find that in 0·001 N hydrochloric acid in ordinary water at 20 ° C. the over-voltage differs from that in 99·6 per cent deuterium oxide by + 87 millivolts ; in 94·6 per cent D2O by 63 millivolts ; in 76·5 per cent D2O by 31 mv. and in 49·8 per cent D2O by 15 mv. At 60 ° C. the differences with the purest heavy water is + 71 millivolts. The factor b in Tafel's term, 6 log i, is 113 millivolts at 20 ° C. in heavy water and 102 in light water.
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Overvoltage in Light and Heavy Water. Nature 140, 1022 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401022a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401022a0