Measurement of Electrical Resistance of Liquid Electrolytes and Materials Containing Them

Abstract

Measurement of the electrical conductivity of electrolytes and heterogeneous materials containing them is accompanied by numerous physical and electrochemical processes, complicating measuring and interpretation of data. As a result, the measurement of the electrical conductivity of such a system is a difficult and not finally resolved problem. The new method of resistance measurement of the electrolytic systems is substantiated and tested on example of heterogeneous electrolytic system “lignin-calcium chloride water solution” in this article. The method is based on measurement of resistance of the electrolytic system at different voltages (DC) on the cell and the consequent approximation of the acquired data taking into consideration volume charges and potential barriers arising on the boarders of electrodes and electrolytic materials. Extrapolation of the resistance to the limiting small current lets one obtain a characteristic value of the active resistance of the electrolytic system. The method is technically simple, inexpensive and has several advantages compared to the methods based on AC measurements.