ON THE CALCULATION OF SURFACE CONCENTRATION FROM MEASUREMENTS BY THE RADIOTRACER ELECTRODE LOWERING TECHNIQUE

Two methods used in the literature to calculate the surface concentrat ion of adsorbed species on an electrode from experimental results obta ined by the 'electrode lowering' technique are compared. It is shown t hat the values of surface concentration calculated by the use Of the t heoretical equations proposed by Wieckowski et al. are appreciably low er than those calculated by the use of the calibration plot. It is sug gested that this discrepancy is caused mainly by the difference in the counting efficiency for the backscattered and impedient radiation whi ch had not been taken into account in the derivation of the theoretica l formula for the surface concentration. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A .