Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Rapid in-silico Battery Electrolyte Electrochemical Reaction Generation using 3T-VASP Multi-Scale Energy Minimization
Published on: August 22, 2025
Development of a finite-temperature density functional approach to electrochemical reactions
Kazuya Shiratori1, Katsuyuki Nobusada
1Department of Structural Molecular Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
Abstract:
We present a computational method to calculate the electronic states of a molecule in an electrochemical environment. The method is based on our recently developed finite-temperature density functional theory approach to calculate the electronic structures at a constant chemical potential. A solvent effect is treated at the level of the extended self-consistent reaction field model, which allows considering a nonequilibrium solvation effect. An exchange-correlation functional with a long-range correction is employed in this calculation, because the functional is adjusted so that the derivative discontinuity of energy with respect to a number of electrons could be satisfied. It has been found that the derivative discontinuity condition plays a crucial role in an electrochemical system. The computational results are presented for a reaction of NO(+) + e(-) <==> NO in chemical equilibrium. Owing to the improvement in the solvation effect and the exchange-correlation functional, the calculated activation free energy is in good agreement with experimental results.
Related Concept Videos
Processes at Electrodes
Electrochemical Systems
The Electrical Double Layer
The Debye–Hückel Theory of Electrolyte Solutions
Debye–Huckel–Onsager Conductance Equation
The Nernst Equation
The interconnection between standard cell potentials and various thermodynamic parameters such as the standard free energy change ΔG° and equilibrium constant K has been previously explored. For example, a redox reaction involving zinc(II) and tin(II) ions at 1 M concentration with Eºcell = +0.291 V and ΔG° = −56.2 kJ is spontaneous.

