Bubbles electrical effects

If the gas diffusion between bubbles is reduced, the collapse of the bubbles is delayed by retarding the bubble size changes and the resulting mechanical stresses. Therefore single films can persist longer than the corresponding foams. However, this effect is of minor importance in practical situations. Electric effects, such as double layers, form opposite surfaces of importance only for extremely thin films (less than 10 nm). In particular, they occur with ionic surfactants. 

Electrolytically evolved gas bubbles affect three components of the cell voltage and change the macro- and microscopic current distributions in electrolyzers. Dispersed in the bulk electrolyte, they increase ohmic losses in the cell and, if nonuniformly distributed in the direction parallel to the electrode, they deflect current from regions where they are more concentrated to regions of lower void fraction. Bubbles attached to or located very near the electrodes likewise present ohmic resistance, and also, by making the microscopic current distribution nonuniform, increase the effective current density on the electrode, which adds to the electrode kinetic polarization. Evolution of gas bubbles stirs the electrolyte and thus reduces the supersaturation of product gas at the electrode, thereby lowering the concentration polarization of the electrode. Thus electrolytically evolved gas bubbles affect the electrolyte conductivity, electrode current distribution, and concentration overpotential and the effects depend on the location of the bubbles in the cell. Discussed in this section are the conductivity of bulk dispersions and the electrical effects of bubbles attached to or very near the electrode. Readers interested in the effect of bubbles dispersed in the bulk on the macroscopic current distribution in electrolyzers should see a recent review of Vogt.31... 

The gas impact on the electric field can be manifold. Figure 12.15a demonstrates an increased current density with bubbles, contrary to our expectation. Nevertheless, an explanation might be found in Figure 12.15b where the bubble-mixing effect on the anode OH" transport reduces the anodic polarization. Although the inter-electrode ohmic drop is also intensified by bubbles. 

A recent design of the maximum bubble pressure instrument for measurement of dynamic surface tension allows resolution in the millisecond time frame [119, 120]. This was accomplished by increasing the system volume relative to that of the bubble and by using electric and acoustic sensors to track the bubble formation frequency. Miller and co-workers also assessed the hydrodynamic effects arising at short bubble formation times with experiments on very viscous liquids [121]. They proposed a correction procedure to improve reliability at short times. This technique is applicable to the study of surfactant and polymer adsorption from solution [101, 120]. 

Foam persistence increases with rise in BW TDS because the bubbles are stabilized by the combined repelling forces of electrical charges at the steam-water interface that result from the high concentration of dissolved salts. The repulsion effect of similar charges prevents bubble thinning, bubble rupture and coalescence mechanisms from taking place. 

The problem of gas bubbles is to be added to the resistive effect of mechanical separators [12-14]. H2 and O2 are formed at the surface of the electrodes facing the separator. Hence the solution between electrode and diaphragm becomes saturated with gas bubbles that reduce the volume occupied by the electrolyte, thus incrementing the electrical resistance of the solution. In the conventional cell configuration, IR can be minimized, once the electrolyte and the separator are fixed, only by minimizing the distance between the anode and cathode. However, a certain distance between the electrode and separator must be necessarily maintained. 

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