Electrical conduction in hexane and decane liquids using a crossed-wire electrode system

Abstract

Electrical conduction studies of pure hexane and decane liquids are reported using a novel electrode system of crossed wires with a droplet of the liquid freely suspended between them. Volumes of liquid no greater than 5 × 10−4 cm3 can be studied, the drop being kept continuously under close microscopic observation. Very stable currents are obtained because dust particles in the gap can easily be detected and eliminated. Current-stress relationships have been obtained up to stresses as high as 800 kv cm−1 and little or no direct correlation with electrode material has been found, although with air-saturated liquid the anode appears to influence the conduction. The conduction in outgassed liquid is more than three orders of magnitude greater than that of air-saturated liquid suggesting, in the latter case, a strongly blocking anode and the accumulation of space charge. Photoconduction which occurs readily in outgassed liquid, even with light of wavelengths as long as 6000 Å, is inhibited by the presence of dissolved air. With air-saturated decane the current at constant stress has been found to increase markedly with increased electrode spacing over the range 4-47 μm. It is reasonable to conclude that some degree of collision ionization occurs in this case.