Lattice Boltzmann simulation on the liquid junction potential in a microchannel

Abstract

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to investigate the liquid junction potential (LJP) at an interface between two electrolyte layers. The Poisson equation for electrostatic field is solved to extend the applicable range to micro- and nanoscales in which electroneutrality does not hold. The LBM solutions are validated against analytical and finite difference method (FDM) results for evolution of concentration, net charge density and electrostatic potential. Noticeable separation of the concentration profiles of positive and negative ions occurs for kappa d less than 67 in simulation, where kappa is the inverse of the thickness of electrical double layer and d is the system length. Parametric study is performed for the peak potential and the time to reach the peak with respect to kappa d and xi which is the initial thickness ratio of the lower concentration to entire stream. Simple coding and easy parallelization will allow the LBM to make an efficient analysis tool for complex electrochemical systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.