Layer diffuse

IHP) (the Helmholtz condenser formula is used in connection with it), located at the surface of the layer of Stem adsorbed ions, and an outer Helmholtz plane (OHP), located on the plane of centers of the next layer of ions marking the beginning of the diffuse layer. These planes, marked IHP and OHP in Fig. V-3 are merely planes of average electrical property the actual local potentials, if they could be measured, must vary wildly between locations where there is an adsorbed ion and places where only water resides on the surface. For liquid surfaces, discussed in Section V-7C, the interface will not be smooth due to thermal waves (Section IV-3). Sweeney and co-workers applied gradient theory (see Chapter III) to model the electric double layer and interfacial tension of a hydrocarbon-aqueous electrolyte interface [27]. 

The effect known either as electroosmosis or electroendosmosis is a complement to that of electrophoresis. In the latter case, when a field F is applied, the surface or particle is mobile and moves relative to the solvent, which is fixed (in laboratory coordinates). If, however, the surface is fixed, it is the mobile diffuse layer that moves under an applied field, carrying solution with it. If one has a tube of radius r whose walls possess a certain potential and charge density, then Eqs. V-35 and V-36 again apply, with v now being the velocity of the diffuse layer. For water at 25°C, a field of about 1500 V/cm is needed to produce a velocity of 1 cm/sec if f is 100 mV (see Problem V-14). 

It is necessary that the mercury or other metallic surface be polarized, that is, that there be essentially no current flow across the interface. In this way no chemical changes occur, and the electrocapillary effect is entirely associated with potential changes at the interface and corresponding changes in the adsorbed layer and diffuse layer. 

The interaction of an electrolyte with an adsorbent may take one of several forms. Several of these are discussed, albeit briefly, in what follows. The electrolyte may be adsorbed in toto, in which case the situation is similar to that for molecular adsorption. It is more often true, however, that ions of one sign are held more strongly, with those of the opposite sign forming a diffuse or secondary layer. The surface may be polar, with a potential l/, so that primary adsorption can be treated in terms of the Stem model (Section V-3), or the adsorption of interest may involve exchange of ions in the diffuse layer. 

The repulsion between oil droplets will be more effective in preventing flocculation Ae greater the thickness of the diffuse layer and the greater the value of 0. the surface potential. These two quantities depend oppositely on the electrolyte concentration, however. The total surface potential should increase with electrolyte concentration, since the absolute excess of anions over cations in the oil phase should increase. On the other hand, the half-thickness of the double layer decreases with increasing electrolyte concentration. The plot of emulsion stability versus electrolyte concentration may thus go through a maximum. 

The rate of dissolving of a solid is determined by the rate of diffusion through a boundary layer of solution. Derive the equation for the net rate of dissolving. Take Co to be the saturation concentration and rf to be the effective thickness of the diffusion layer denote diffusion coefficient by . 

Outside the OHP, there may still be an electric field and hence an imbalance of anions and cations extending in the fomi of a diffuse layer into the solution. 

Figure A2.4.9. Components of the Galvani potential differenee at a metal-solution interfaee. From [16], A2.4.5.2 INTERFACIAL THERMODYNAMICS OF THE DIFFUSE LAYER...

The scan rate, u = EIAt, plays a very important role in sweep voltannnetry as it defines the time scale of the experiment and is typically in the range 5 mV s to 100 V s for nonnal macroelectrodes, although sweep rates of 10 V s are possible with microelectrodes (see later). The short time scales in which the experiments are carried out are the cause for the prevalence of non-steady-state diflfiision and the peak-shaped response. Wlien the scan rate is slow enough to maintain steady-state diflfiision, the concentration profiles with time are linear within the Nemst diflfiision layer which is fixed by natural convection, and the current-potential response reaches a plateau steady-state current. On reducing the time scale, the diflfiision layer caimot relax to its equilibrium state, the diffusion layer is thiimer and hence the currents in the non-steady-state will be higher. 

Engstrom R C, Webber M, Wunder D J, Burgess R and Winquist S 1986 Measurements within the diffusion layer using a mioroeleotrode probe Anal. Chem. 58 844... 

Winquist, Engstrom R C, Meaney T, Tople R and Wightman R M 1987 Spatiotemporal desoription of the diffusion layer with a mioroeleotrode probe Anal. Chem. 59 2005... 

Therefore, in tire limiting case—tire surface concentration of tire reacting species is zero as all tire arriving ions immediately react—tire current density becomes voltage independent and depends only on diffusion, specifically, on tire widtli of tire Nerstian diffusion layer S, and of course tire diffusion coefficient and tire bulk concentration of anions (c). The limiting current density (/ ) is tlien given by... 

The diffusion layer widtli is very much dependent on tire degree of agitation of tire electrolyte. Thus, via tire parameter 5, tire hydrodynamics of tire solution can be considered. Experimentally, defined hydrodynamic conditions are achieved by a rotating cylinder, disc or ring-disc electrodes, for which analytical solutions for tire diffusion equation are available [37, 4T, 42 and 43]. 

The region of the gradual potential drop from the Helmholtz layer into the bulk of the solution is called the Gouy or diffuse layer (29,30). The Gouy layer has similar characteristics to the ion atmosphere from electrolyte theory. This layer has an almost exponential decay of potential with increasing distance. The thickness of the diffuse layer may be approximated by the Debye length of the electrolyte. 

Volt mmetiy. Diffusional effects, as embodied in equation 1, can be avoided by simply stirring the solution or rotating the electrode, eg, using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) at high rpm (3,7). The resultant concentration profiles then appear as shown in Figure 5. A time-independent Nernst diffusion layer having a thickness dictated by the laws of hydrodynamics is estabUshed. For the RDE,... 

Examples of such irreversible species (12) include hydroxjiamine, hydroxide, and perchlorate. The electrochemistries of dichromate and thiosulfate are also irreversible. The presence of any of these agents may compromise an analysis by generating currents in excess of the analytically usehil values. This problem can be avoided if the chemical reaction is slow enough, or if the electrode can be rotated fast enough so that the reaction does not occur within the Nemst diffusion layer and therefore does not influence the current. 

Not all of the ions in the diffuse layer are necessarily mobile. Sometimes the distinction is made between the location of the tme interface, an intermediate interface called the Stem layer (5) where there are immobilized diffuse layer ions, and a surface of shear where the bulk fluid begins to move freely. The potential at the surface of shear is called the zeta potential. The only methods available to measure the zeta potential involve moving the surface relative to the bulk. Because the zeta potential is defined as the potential at the surface where the bulk fluid may move under shear, this is by definition the potential that is measured by these techniques (3). 

The physical separation of charge represented allows externally apphed electric field forces to act on the solution in the diffuse layer. There are two phenomena associated with the electric double layer that are relevant electrophoresis when a particle is moved by an electric field relative to the bulk and electroosmosis, sometimes called electroendosmosis, when bulk fluid migrates with respect to an immobilized charged surface. 

Electrokinetics. The first mathematical description of electrophoresis balanced the electrical body force on the charge in the diffuse layer with the viscous forces in the diffuse layer that work against motion (6). Using this force balance, an equation for the velocity, U, of a particle in an electric field... 

A tangential electric field VE acting on these charges produces a relative motion between the interface and the solution just outside the diffuse layer. In view of the thinness of the diffuse layer, a balance of the tangential viscous and electrical forces can be written... 

Tafel slope (Napieran loop) transfer coefficient diffusion layer thickness dielectric constant, relative electric field constant = 8.85 x 10 F cm overvoltage, polarization ohmic voltage drop, resistance polarization specific conductance, conductivity electrochemical potential of material X,... 

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