Capacitance neutralization

Option for impedance transformation very near the high-ohmic electrode with input impedance > 10 12, guarded signal and capacitance neutralization for physiological measurements. 

Electrode surfaces in elec trolytes generally possess a surface charge that is balanced by an ion accumulation in the adjacent solution, thus making the system electrically neutral. The first component is a double layer created by a charge difference between the electrode surface and the adjacent molecular layer in the flmd. Electrode surfaces may behave at any given frequency as a network of resistive and capacitive elements from which an elec trical impedance may be measured and analyzed. 

Figure 20.2 An ungrounded or isolated neutral system (circuit completing through the ground leakage capacitances)...

Tlte value of / can thus be varied in magnitude and phase displacement to suit a particular location of installation or pi otective scheme by introducing suitable R and /Y into the neutral circuit. When the impedance is inductive, the fault current will also be inductive and will offset the ground capacitive current /". In such a grounding, the main purpose is to offset the fault current as much is possible to immunize the system from the ha/ai ds of an arcing ground. This is achieved by providing an inductor coil, also known as an arc suppression coil, of a suitable value in the neutral circuit. 

Simple considerations show that the membrane potential cannot be treated with computer simulations, and continuum electrostatic methods may constimte the only practical approach to address such questions. The capacitance of a typical lipid membrane is on the order of 1 j.F/cm-, which corresponds to a thickness of approximately 25 A and a dielectric constant of 2 for the hydrophobic core of a bilayer. In the presence of a membrane potential the bulk solution remains electrically neutral and a small charge imbalance is distributed in the neighborhood of the interfaces. The membrane potential arises from... 

Transient effects in naturally aging samples occur with some delay and are very slow. Nazar and Ahmad274 have observed a slow decrease of A1-A1203-A1 capacitance that was attributed to neutralization of Al3+ cations in the vicinity of the internal boundary and a corresponding increase of the effective oxide thickness. However, the same effect may be due to neutralization of negatively... 

Figure 10. Kleitz s reaction pathway model for solid-state gas-diffusion electrodes. Traditionally, losses in reversible work at an electrochemical interface can be described as a series of contiguous drops in electrical state along a current pathway, for example. A—E—B. However, if charge transfer at point E is limited by the availability of a neutral electroactive intermediate (in this case ad (b) sorbed oxygen at the interface), a thermodynamic (Nernstian) step in electrical state [d/j) develops, related to the displacement in concentration of that intermediate from equilibrium. In this way it is possible for irreversibilities along a current-independent pathway (in this case formation and transport of electroactive oxygen) to manifest themselves as electrical resistance. This type of chemical valve , as Kleitz calls it, may also involve a significant reservoir of intermediates that appears as a capacitance in transient measurements such as impedance. Portions of this image are adapted from ref 46. (Adapted with permission from ref 46. Copyright 1993 Rise National Laboratory, Denmark.)...

Some authors have expressed concerns that bulk accumulation of reactive intermediates (and thus chemical capacitance) violates electroneutrality. ° However, it should be recalled that reduction (or oxidation) of a material not only involves depletion (or accumulation) of oxygen ions in the bulk but neutral combinations of oxygen ions and compensating electrons/holes which together may accumulate without violating electroneutrality. Indeed, no other mechanisms have yet been proposed which satisfac-... 

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