Magnetoconvection phenomena: A mechanism for influence of magnetic fields on electrochemical processes

The objective of this study is to suggest an interaction mechanism for the influence of static magnetic fields on electrochemical processes occurring at a ferromagnetic electrode immersed in a paramagnetic electrolytic soluti on. The hypothesis is that the magnetic field will cause a transport of all ions due to the difference in the magnetic susceptibility in the solution at the electrode surface. The ion transport induced by the magnetic field i s directed from electrode into solution, Experimentally, the effects of sta tic magnetic fields on electrochemical systems were observed only within sy stems consisting of ferromagnetic electrodes immersed in paramagnetic solut ions. The results showed that the magnetic field caused an anodic polarizat ion for the ferric/ferrous system and a cathodic polarization for the nicke l/nickel-ion and the cobalt/cobalt-ion system. The results were obtained by the open-circuit potential and the Dotentiostatic/galvanostatic methods. T he suggested interaction mechanism is magnetoconvection, which predicts tha t to obtain any magnetic field effect, there has to exist a gradient of par amagnetic ion concentration in the solution at the electrode surface. Theor etically, it is shown that the magnetic field tends to cause an additional convective transfer of all components of the solution, which will be genera ted in the vicinity of the electrode surface, Further, both the experimenta l results and the suggested mechanism show that the magnetic field effect i ncreases with increasing magnetic flux density and magnetic susceptibility of the solution and decreases with increasing temperature and stirring rate . The evidence presented here show that the proposed hypothesis and the pro posed interaction mechanism an verified.