https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.I03062
At a dropping electrode, the total current that flows at the instant when a time has elapsed since the fall of the preceding drop. At any other electrode, the total current that flows at the instant when a time has elapsed since the beginning of an electrolysis. The instantaneous current is usually time-dependent and may have the character of an
adsorption
, catalytic
, diffusion
, double-layer
, or kinetic current
, and may include a migration current
. A plot of the dependence of instantaneous current on time is commonly called an 'i-t curve'.