/** # Gouy-Chapman Debye layer The [Debye layer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_layer_%28interfacial%29) is the ionic concentration and potential distribution structure that appears on the surface of a charged electrode in contact with solvents in which are dissolved ionic species. Louis Georges Gouy and David Leonard Chapman at the beginning of the XX century proposed a model of the Debye layer resulting from the combined effect of its thermal diffusion and its electrostatic attraction or repulsion. In effect, in a stationary situation and assuming fluid at rest, the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations are, $$ 0 = \nabla \cdot (e \omega_i Z_i c_i \nabla \phi) + \nabla \cdot (\omega_i k_B T \nabla c_i) \quad \mathrm{with} \quad \nabla \cdot (\epsilon \nabla \phi) = \sum_i e c_i $$ where $\phi$ is the electric potential and $c_i$ is the number of $i$-ions per volume. $\omega_i$ and $Z_i$ are the $i$-ion mobility and valence. $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant, $e$ is the electron charge, $\epsilon$ the electrical permittivity and $T$ the temperature. The above equations, written in dimensionless form, reduces in the case of a fully dissolved binary system in a planar geometry to, $$ \hat{c}_+ = exp (-\hat{\phi}), \, \hat{c}_- = exp (\hat{\phi}) \quad \mathrm{with} \quad (\hat{\phi})_{xx} = 2 \sinh (\hat{\phi}). $$ */ #include "grid/multigrid1D.h" #include "diffusion.h" #include "run.h" #include "ehd/pnp.h" #define Volt 1.0 #define DT 0.01 /** We assume a fully dissolved binary system labelling the positive ion as $Cp$ and the counterion as $Cm$. The valence is one, ($|Z|=1$). */ scalar phi[]; scalar Cp[], Cm[]; int Z[2] = {1,-1}; scalar * sp = {Cp, Cm}; /** Ions are repelled by the electrode due to its positive volume conductivity while counterions are attracted (negative conductivity). */ #if 1 const face vector kp[] = {1., 1.}; const face vector km[] = {-1., -1.}; vector * K = {kp, km}; #endif /** On the left the charged planar electrode is set to a constant potential $\phi =1$. The concentrations of the positive and negative ions depend exponentially on the voltage electrode. */ phi[left] = dirichlet(Volt); Cp[left] = dirichlet (exp(-Volt)); Cm[left] = dirichlet (exp(Volt)); /** In the bulk of the liquid, on the right boundary, the electrical potential is zero and the ion concentrations match the bulk concentration i.e */ phi[right] = dirichlet (0.); Cp[right] = dirichlet (1.); Cm[right] = dirichlet (1.); /** Initially, we set the ion concentration to their bulk values together with a linear decay of the electric potential $\phi$. */ event init (i = 0) { foreach() { phi[] = Volt*(1.-x/5.); Cp[] = 1.0; Cm[] = 1.0; } } event integration (i++) { dt = dtnext (DT); /** At each instant, the concentration of each species is updated taking into account the ohmic transport. */ #if 1 ohmic_flux (sp, Z, dt, K); #else ohmic_flux (sp, Z, dt); // fixme: this does not work yet #endif /** Then, the thermal diffusion is taken into account. */ for (scalar s in sp) diffusion (s, dt); /** The electric potential $\phi$ has to be re-calculated since the net bulk charge has changed. */ scalar rhs[]; foreach() { int i = 0; rhs[] = 0.; for (scalar s in sp) rhs[] -= Z[i++]*s[]; } poisson (phi, rhs); } event result (t = 3.5) { foreach() fprintf (stderr, "%g %g %g %g \n", x, phi[], Cp[], Cm[]); } /** ## Results We compare the numerical results (symbols) with the analytical solution (lines). ~~~gnuplot Profiles of electric potential and concentrations set xlabel 'x' gamma = tanh(0.25) fi(x) = 2*log((1+gamma*exp(-sqrt(2)*x))/(1-gamma*exp(-sqrt(2)*x))) nplus(x) = exp(-fi(x)) nminus(x) = exp(fi(x)) plot 'log' u 1:2 notitle, fi(x) t '{/Symbol f}',\ 'log' u 1:3 notitle, nplus(x) t 'n+',\ 'log' u 1:4 notitle, nminus(x) t 'n-' lt 7 ~~~ */ int main() { N = 32; L0 = 5; TOLERANCE = 1e-4; run(); }