ON THE THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THERMAL EFFECTS IN ELECTROCHEMICAL-CELLS

Theoretical investigation of steady state heating processes during pot entiostatic electrolysis of a metallic salt in binary and in three com ponent electrolyte solutions is carried out for a cell consisting of t wo identical parallel electrodes. Analytical and numerical results are given for temperature distributions for electrochemical cells at diff erent values of current densities. The peculiarities of the temperatur e distribution at currents close to the limiting diffusion-migration c urrent are investigated. Theoretical analysis of the temperature distr ibution in the cell is based on an exact solution of the electrodiffus ion problem described by the Nernst-Planck equations and an approximat e solution of the stationary heat conduction equation containing a sou rce term corresponding to Joule heat generation in an electrochemical cell. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.