Battery engineers wish to design a galvanic cell that delivers a standard cell potential of at least +0.60 V while using only the metals and ions listed in the table below. All reactant and product species are at standard conditions.
Standard reduction potentials (25 °C):
(a) Select one species from the table to undergo reduction and a different species to undergo oxidation so that the resulting galvanic cell has E°cell ≥ +0.60 V. State clearly which half-reaction is written as a reduction and which is written as an oxidation.
(b) Balance the two chosen half-reactions for both mass and charge and combine them to give the overall redox reaction occurring in the cell.
(c) Calculate the standard cell potential E°cell for the overall reaction from part (b).
(d) Determine the standard free-energy change ΔG° (in kJ mol⁻¹) for the reaction you have designed. Comment on whether the sign and magnitude of ΔG° meet the engineers’ requirement for a thermodynamically favorable process that can perform useful electrical work.