Surface membrane potential physical origins

Surface potentials at the electrode-solution interface have been described by a number of formalisms. The most successful of these originates from Gouy and Chapman whom suggested that Poisson-Boltzmann approaches best describes the state of affairs at the electrode surface in contact with an aqueous solution (further elaborations are outlined by Bockris Reddy). Within Electrochemistry this proved very successful and analogous formalisms were subsequently applied to physical descriptions of biological surfaces. The resultant Poisson-Boltzmann equation with defined boundary conditions can be solved analytically to yield an expression for the membrane surface potential as follows ... 

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