Experimental Quantification of the Effect of Nonlinearities on the EIS Spectra of the Cathodic Electrode of an Alkaline Electrolyzer

Abstract

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a very powerful tool to study the behavior of electrochemical systems. According to Ohm's generalized law, the impedance concept is only valid if the linearity condition is met. In the case that the linearity condition is not achieved, the obtained impedance spectra will present distortions which may lead to biased or even erroneous results and conclusions. In this work, an experimental quantification of the effect of nonlinearities on EIS spectra was performed in order to determine the order of magnitude of the effect of the nonlinearity of the system on the obtained spectra of the cathodic electrode of an alkaline electrolyzer.