Application of Generalized Transmission Line Models to Mixed Ionic-Electronic Transport Phenomena

Application of a generalized equivalent circuit including the electrode condition for the Hebb-Wagner polarization in the frequency domain proposed by Jamnik and Maier can provide a consistent set of material parameters, such as the geometric capacitance, partial conductivities, chemical capacitance or diffusivity, as well as electrode characteristics. Generalization of the shunt capacitors for the chemical capacitance by the constant phase elements (CPEs) was applied to a model mixed conducting system, Ag2S, with electron-blocking AgI electrodes and ion-blocking Pt electrodes. While little difference resulted for the electron-blocking cell with almost ideal Warburg behavior, severely non-ideal behavior in the case of Pt electrodes not only necessitates a generalized transmission line model with shunt CPEs but also requires modelling of the leakage in the cell approximately proportional to the cell conductance, which then leads to partial conductivity values consistent with the electron-blocking case. Chemical capacitance was found to be closer to the true material property in the electron-blocking cell while excessively high chemical capacitance without expected silver activity dependence resulted in the electron-blocking cell. A chemical storage effect at internal boundaries is suggested to explain the anomalies in the respective blocking configurations.