Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol.144, No.4, 1323-1331, 1997
A Study of Bipolar Spheroids in an Electrolytic Cell
A theoretical study is presented for the bipolar behavior of an isolated spheroidal particle in a uniform applied electric field oriented arbitrarily with respect to its axis of revolution. Linear polarized electrode kinetics is assumed for the electrochemical reaction arising at the particle surface. Using a combined analytic-numerical method with the boundary-collocation technique, the governing equations for the electrical potential field are solved, and the current density distribution is determined for various cases. It is found that the current enhancement factor for a spheroid can be much larger or smaller than that for a sphere, depending on the relative conductivity with respect to the surrounding medium, electrode reaction parameter, aspect ratio, and orientation of the spheroid. The solution for the electrical potential field around a single spheroid is also used to obtain the effective electric conductivity of a dilute dispersion of bipolar spheroids with random orientation distribution as a linear function of the volume fraction of the particles.
Keywords:BED ELECTRODE;SPHERES