Electrode polarization and charge transport at solid interfaces

Abstract

A quantitative description is suggested for electrode polarization, an ubiquitous phenomenon which takes place at the interface between a metallic and an ionic conductor and results in an increase by many orders of magnitude in the net dielectric response of the sample cell. Based on the fact that due to coulombic interactions, the mobility of charge carriers is drastically slowed down at the metal/ionic conductor interface, this approach quantitatively reproduces the observed scaling laws and opens perspectives in the physics of charge transport at interfaces.