I decided to correspond with Professor Vayenas in Patras, Greece, to reach a better understanding of this concept. I think that my papers A946, 1947, and 1957), on the relationship between the work function of metal surfaces and electron transfer reactions thereat to particles in solution, held me in good stead to be receptive to what Vayenas told me. As electrode potential changes, so of course, does the work function at the interface, and gas metal reactions there involve adsorbed particles which have bonding to the surface. Whether electron transfer is complete in such a case, or
whether the effect is on the desorption of radicals, the work function determines the strength of their bonding, and if one varies the work function varying the electrode potential, one can vary the reaction rate at the interface.