Ionic Diffusivity, Electrical Conductivity, Membrane and Thermoelectric Potentials in Colloids and Granular Porous Media: A Unified Model.

Ionic diffusivity, electrical conductivity, membrane and thermoelectric potentials in isotropic and homogeneous colloidal suspensions, and granular porous media saturated by a binary symmetric 1:1 electrolyte are four interrelated phenomena. The microstructure and the surface properties of the solid grains-water interface influence directly these properties. The ionic diffusivities (and the electrical conductivity, respectively) in colloids and porous media have contributions from diffusion (and electromigration, respectively) through the bulk solution occupying the pores, together with electromigration occurring at the grains-water interface in the electrical double layer. Surface diffusion in porous materials has no contribution from concentration gradients along the grains-water interface. Instead, surface diffusion is envisioned as a purely electromigration process due to the membrane potential. The tortuosities of the transport of anions and cations are equal to the bulk tortuosity of the pore space only at high ionic strength. As the ionic strength decreases, the dominant paths for transport of the ion corresponding to the counterion of the electrical double layer shift from the pore space to the solid grains-water interface. Because anions and cations do not move independently, the membrane potential created by the charge polarization alters the velocity of the anions and influences the mutual diffusivity coefficient of the salt in the porous material. An electric potential of thermal origin is also produced in nonisothermal conditions. The ionic contributions to the electrical conductivity are based on a differential effective medium approach. These ionic contributions to the electrical conductivity are used to derive the ionic diffusivities and the membrane and thermoelectric potentials. The influence of the temperature and the presence, in the pore space, of a second immiscible and nonwetting phase is also considered in this model. Porosity is shown to affect the membrane potential. Several predictions of the model are checked with success by comparing the model to a set of experimental data previously published. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.