Estimation of single electrode heats

Abstract An approximate expression for single electrode heats have been derived and tested. Peltier coefficients of a metal electrode in contact with a molten salt mixture were first derived using irreversible thermodynamics of surfaces. The expression for the Peltier coefficient for the electrolyte side of the interface has the value of a one-component electrolyte as a basis and includes correction terms for multicomponent mixtures. Analyses of results reported in the literature for salt mixtures of AgX–BX and CuX–BX show how the correction terms vary when the electrode surface is chosen as the frame of reference for the transports. Here X represents a halide ion and B is an alkali metal. The expression is used to estimate electrode heats for the B|BX electrode within 10–20% accuracy. The error is mainly due to neglect of the transported heat in the electrolyte.