Phase transition in porous electrodes.

ABSTRACT

It is shown by Monte Carlo simulation that electrochemical thermodynamics of electrolytes in a porous electrode is qualitatively different from that in the bulk with a planar electrode. In particular, first order phase transitions occur in porous electrodes when the pore size is comparable to the ion size of the electrolytes as the voltage is increased from zero, the surface charge density and the ion density in the porous electrodes discontinuously change at a specific voltage. The critical points for those phase transitions are identified.