On the stated area, the total electric current is . The known ohmic polarization is . Applying the supplied anodic Tafel equation gives
Assume the quoted limiting current uses the same cathodic area convention. A steady diffusion-film model gives . The Nernst equation then makes the cathodic concentration overpotential magnitude
Relative to the local surface equilibrium potential, the cathode also needs an activation overpotential. Neglecting anodic concentration polarization, the usual separated-loss accounting is
The printed is explicitly for copper oxidation, not a separately specified reduction slope. An exchange current density by itself does not determine the whole cathodic current-potential relation. TODO: a unique applied voltage requires a cathodic kinetic law, or an explicit additional relation between anodic and cathodic kinetics.
For a concrete conditional completion, assume one effective two-electron Butler-Volmer equation with , no anodic concentration polarization and reduction proportional to the surface concentration. The anodic slope implies and . With and cathodic overpotential referenced to bulk equilibrium,
Solving at gives , including both concentration and activation effects. Therefore this explicitly assumed model gives V. The V concentration loss must not be added again. A multistep copper reaction need not obey this effective single-step relation, so 2.0073 V is not uniquely entailed by the printed data.
At fixed discharge current, delivered voltage can be represented as
where is discharged charge and the terms denote distinct physical losses. A typical trace has an initial drop from open circuit, an approximately flat useful region and a final decline toward cutoff. Its exact shape depends on the cell chemistry and current; not every battery has an equally flat plateau.
Four distinguishable contributions are:
Terminology sometimes groups solid-state transport or phase-change effects differently. The important distinction is the mechanism, not counting the same diffusion loss under two names. A falling equilibrium voltage as composition changes is also not, by itself, polarization.
Figure 1.
An illustrative discharge voltage combines equilibrium changes and distinct losses
. Original stipulated model, not battery measurements. The loss components show an instantaneous resistive contribution, activation loss, a transient nucleation-related contribution and increasing late-discharge transport loss. The equilibrium curve is plotted separately. Details.