Lability of metal complexes at spherical sensors. Dynamic voltammetric measurements

Abstract

The diffusive-kinetic steady-state (dkss) approximation is applied to the case of a metal ion reaching a transforming/consuming spherical surface (sensor) when the ion is involved in a complexation reaction in solution. Simple time-dependent expressions for the surface metal flux, the lability degree and the half-wave potential are presented, valid for any value of the ratio of concentrations at the surface and the sensor radius. The solution presented is compared with other theoretical approaches, such as the kinetic steady state (kss) and the total steady state (tss), pointing out that the easy dkss approach is much more accurate than the tss one to study the metal flux and the lability degree for any value of the radius, from ultramicro to planar sensors.