A WALL-JET ELECTRODE REACTOR AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE STUDY OF ELECTRODE-REACTION MECHANISMS .1. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

A wall-jet electrode reactor possessing a laminar flow regime, suitabl e for mechanistic studies, is reported. This reactor is different from those described in the literature in the size of its working electrod e surface area. The reactor is evaluated by means of mass transport-li mited current measurements using as a model reaction the reduction of ferricyanide ions at a platinum electrode surface from a 0.01M K3Fe(CN )(6)-0.01M K4Fe(CN)(6) solution containing 1M KCl as supporting electr olyte. The dependence of the mass transport-limited current on the cru cial reactor parameters - the volume flow rate V-f (m(3) s(-1)), the n ozzle diameter a (m) and the radius of the working electrode R (m) - i s established and verified by theoretical predictions. The reactor is shown to have the desired wall-jet hydrodynamics for: 1.6 x 10(-6) les s than or equal to V-f less than or equal to 4.3 x 10(-6)m(3) s(-1), 1 .5 x 10(-3) less than or equal to a less than or equal to 3 x 10(-3) m and 1.5 x 10(-2) less than or equal to R less than or equal to 2 x 10 (-2) m.