Conductivity of Concentrated Electrolytes
Abstract
The conductivity of ionic solutions is arguably their most important trait, being widely used in electrochemical, biochemical, and environmental applications. The Debye-H\"uckel-Onsager theory successfully predicts the conductivity at very low ionic concentrations of up to a few millimolars, but there is no well-established theory applicable at higher concentrations. We study the conductivity of ionic solutions using a stochastic density functional theory, paired with a modified Coulomb interaction that accounts for the hard-core repulsion between the ions. The modified potential suppresses unphysical, short-range electrostatic interactions, which are present in the Debye-H\"uckel-Onsager theory. Our results for the conductivity show very good agreement with experimental data up to 3 molars, without any fit parameters. We provide a compact expression for the conductivity, accompanied by a simple analytical approximation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2110.07008,
title = {Conductivity of Concentrated Electrolytes},
author = {Yael Avni and Ram M. Adar and David Andelman and Henri Orland},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.07008},
year = {2023}
}