Impact of diffusion layers in strong electrolytes on the transient current

Transient currents of electrolytes in response to a voltage step can reveal a lot about the behavior of charges present in an electrolyte. In this paper, electrolytes with high ionic strength are considered. In the limit of small voltage steps, the interpretation is straightforward as the equations...

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Published inPhysical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Vol. 79; no. 1 Pt 1; p. 011502
Main Authors Marescaux, Matthias, Beunis, Filip, Strubbe, Filip, Verboven, Bart, Neyts, Kristiaan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.01.2009
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Summary:Transient currents of electrolytes in response to a voltage step can reveal a lot about the behavior of charges present in an electrolyte. In this paper, electrolytes with high ionic strength are considered. In the limit of small voltage steps, the interpretation is straightforward as the equations describing the transient can be linearized. However, when high ion concentrations and voltage steps of the order of kT/q are considered, we find higher-order effects that occur simultaneously with the diffuse double layer charging. In this case, the diffuse double layer and the transient diffusion layer are coupled because of the screening of the field, leading to a -32 power law for the transient current.
ISSN:1539-3755
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.79.011502