What does "overpotential" mean?

The difference between the electric potential of an electrode or cell under the passage of a current and the thermodynamic value of the electrode or cell potential in the absence of electrolysis.

What is a synonym for "overpotential"?

Common synonyms include: overvoltage, overvoltage.

Overpotential

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The difference between the electric potential of an electrode or cell under the passage of a current and the thermodynamic value of the electrode or cell potential in the absence of electrolysis.
"One of the factors that limits their development and use is that known anode and cathode electrocatalysts produce useful current densities only at high overpotentials."

Synonyms

All synonyms

overvoltage overvoltage

Example

More examples

"One of the factors that limits their development and use is that known anode and cathode electrocatalysts produce useful current densities only at high overpotentials."

Etymology

From over- + potential.

Related phrases

electric potential

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.