Determination of activation energies of mass transport processes on Ag(111) electrodes in aqueous electrolyte

Using temperature variable STM studies of step fluctuations on Ag(111) elec trodes in electrolyte, we have measured the activation energies for the dom inant atomic mass transport processes close to the dissolution potential of Ag into the electrolyte. The results are in agreement with previous potent ial dependent studies (M. Giesen, M. Dietterle, D. Stapel, H. Ibach and D. M. Kolb, Surf. Sci., 1997, 384, 168) at room temperature. Temperature depen dent studies of step fluctuations are not restricted to the Ag electrode an d the electrolyte chosen in the presented experiments, but are generally ap plicable to electrodes in a liquid environment. They are the only studies a vailable so far to determine the activation energies of atomic processes at the solid/liquid interface.