Frequent flaws encountered in the manuscripts of kinetic papers

J Therm Anal Calorim. 2022;147(18):10083-10088. doi: 10.1007/s10973-022-11436-y. Epub 2022 Jul 4.

Abstract

In the manuscripts dealing with thermoanalytical kinetics, many flaws, mistakes, and misconceptions are encountered repeatedly. In this paper, frequent flaws encountered in manuscript of kinetic papers are reviewed, mainly those originating in the false interpretation of the general rate equation, improper employment of integral isoconversional methods, conclusions drawn from the values of a single kinetic parameter, absence of error estimation and application of single-heating rate methods. Assessment of the quality of kinetic treatment is also noticed. Some experimental imperfections that could lead to incorrect values of kinetic parameters are mentioned.

Keywords: Activation energy; Error estimation; General rate equation; Misconception; Thermoanalytical kinetics.