Theory of Multicomponent Phenomena in Cation-Exchange Membranes: Part II. Transport Model and Validation

Abstract

Multicomponent mass-transport in cation-exchange membranes involves the movement of multiple species whose motion is coupled one to another. This phenomenon mediates the performance of numerous electrochemical and water purification technologies. This work presents and validates against experiment a mathematical model for multicomponent mass transport in phase-separated cation-exchange membranes (e.g., perfluorinated sulfonic-acid ionomers). Stefan-Maxwell-Onsager theory describes concentrated-solution transport. Hydrodynamic theory provides constitutive relations for the solute/solvent, solute/membrane, and solvent/membrane friction coefficients. Classical porous-medium theories scale membrane tortuosity. Electrostatic relaxation creates friction between ions. The model uses calculated ion and solvent partitioning between the external solution and the membrane from Part I of this series and incorporates the corresponding ion speciation into the transport coefficients. The proposed transport model compares favorably to properties (e.g., membrane conductivity, transference numbers, electroosmosis, and permeability) measured in dilute and concentrated aqueous binary and ternary electrolytes. The results reveal that the concentration and type of ions in the external solution alter the solvent volume fraction and viscosity in the hydrophilic pathways of the membrane, changing macroscale ionomer conductivity, permeability, and transference numbers. This work provides a physicochemical framework to predict ion-exchange-membrane performance in multicomponent systems exhibiting coupled transport.