Aspects of Mass and Heat Transfer and the Energetics of Electrolytic Cell Systems

Abstract

As will be shown in Chapter 3, formation of a reaction model depends on knowing the rate at which reactants arrive at the electrode surface from the bulk of the electrolyte and the rate at which the products formed by reactions disappear back into the bulk of the electrolyte, i.e., mass transfer or the synonymous term mass transport. Since mass transfer is conditioned by the hydrodynamic behavior of the electrolyte, we begin by considering basic aspects of fluid dynamics; for further study the reader is referred to a standard text on the subject.1 Our treatment of mass transfer is simplistic, but will nevertheless allow the reader to understand and use relevant mass transfer relationships.