Electro-osmotically induced convection at a permselective membrane

Abstract

The paper is concerned with convection at an ion exchange electrodialysis membrane induced by nonequilibrium electro-osmosis in the course of concentration polarization under the passage of electric current through the membrane. Derivation of nonequilibrium electro-osmotic slip condition is recapitulated along with the linear stability analysis of quiescent electrodiffusion through a flat ion exchange membrane. Results of numerical calculation for nonlinear steady state convection, developing from the respective instability, are reported along with those for a slightly wavy membrane. Besides these results, we report those of time dependent calculations for periodic and chaotic oscillations, resulting from instability of the respective steady state flows, and also the results of recent experiments with modified membranes. These latter rule in favor of electro-osmotic versus bulk electroconvective origin of overlimiting conductance through ion exchange membranes.