[marck_usc]

Hello  guys!

When talking about electrochemistry what is the difference between  saying  "electron transfer" and "vectorial electron transfer". It seems to me that "vectorial electron transfer" is just another fancy way of saying "electron transfer" but I am not quite sure if there is a kind of special meaning to it.

My  doubt comes from this part of a scientific article:

In addition, the doping process coupled to a nanostructuredmaterial has improved the interest of this material in photo-electrocatalysis, due to improvement in the active surface area(reaction/interaction can be facilitated between the catalyst andthe interacting media) and excellent electric properties, once thecharges carriers transfer is mainly governed by the quantum con-finement phenomenon [20]. For this purpose TiO2nanotube arrays(TiO2NTs) have shown high structural organization and excellentelectron percolation based on vectorial charge transfer between interfaces

2014 Enhanced photoelectrocatalytic degradation of an acid dye withboron-doped TiO2nanotube anodes

Best

Marco

[Enthalpy]

Hi Marco, at first glance it's just one more research paper trying to impress with jargon... Condolences...

I could imagine a "vector" electron transfer as:

1) The nanotube imposes a dispersion relation between E and the vector k, and even, these are restricted to discrete values. The other medium (vacuum?) imposes a different dispersion relation. To pass from one medium to the other, the electron needs some movement properties (like light needs some angle to exit a glass fibre), and in the new medium, its E and vector k are altered, just like light refraction, or like an electron passing through a heterojunction. If a photon helps the transfer, the relation between possible E and vector K before and after the transfer must include this photon too.

2) More remote possibility: the electron passes only with the help of a mediator, a "vector" etymologically, like insects are vectors of diseases.

[Corribus]

Based only on intuition:

In solution when the transferring species are randomly oriented or they are radially symmetric, electron transfer will be isotropic. However in molecular-scale electronics it is important for the bulk electron transfer to be anisotropic to drive oriented charge separation. Basically, this is how you generate a usable current, so that electrons all flow in one direction.