A Study of the Current Flow Mechanism in Low-Conductivity Liquids in the Presence of Bulk and Surface Electrochemical Processes

The mechanism of electric current flow in a low-conductivity liquid is studied in terms of the four-component model of medium with allowance for bulk and surface electrochemical processes as well as ionic diffusion and migration in the electric field. The current–voltage characteristics of a plane interelectrode gap are constructed for different values of the defining parameters of the model. The conditions under which the current–voltage characteristics provide information about the local conductivity of a liquid are revealed. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data on the current flow in nonpolar hydrocarbon liquids.