A STUDY OF BIPOLAR SPHEROIDS IN AN ELECTROLYTIC CELL

A theoretical study is presented for the bipolar behavior of an isolat ed spheroidal particle in a uniform applied electric field oriented ar bitrarily with respect to its axis of revolution. Linear polarized ele ctrode kinetics is assumed for the electrochemical reaction arising at the particle surface. Using a combined analytic-numerical method with the boundary-collocation technique, the governing equations for the e lectrical potential field are solved, and the current density distribu tion is determined for various cases. It is found that the current enh ancement factor for a spheroid can be much larger or smaller than that for a sphere, depending on the relative conductivity with respect to the surrounding medium, electrode reaction parameter, aspect ratio, an d orientation of the spheroid. The solution for the electrical potenti al field around a single spheroid is also used to obtain the effective electric conductivity of a dilute dispersion of bipolar spheroids wit h random orientation distribution as a linear function of the volume f raction of the particles.