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Hauptverfasser: Origer, Grace, Raj, Ritu R., Jarvey, Nathan, Zavala, P. N. Romero, Smith, Wilson A., Gupta, Ankur
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04070
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author Origer, Grace
Raj, Ritu R.
Jarvey, Nathan
Zavala, P. N. Romero
Smith, Wilson A.
Gupta, Ankur
author_facet Origer, Grace
Raj, Ritu R.
Jarvey, Nathan
Zavala, P. N. Romero
Smith, Wilson A.
Gupta, Ankur
contents Electrochemical cells serve as a building block for producing and storing electrical energy from chemical reactions. The analysis of ion transport in these systems forms the foundation for understanding more complex electrochemical systems that are becoming increasingly present in the broader societal energy infrastructure. From a pedagogical perspective, the ``balance sheets" introduced in Chapter 4 of Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications by Alan J. Bard, Larry R. Faulkner and Henry S. White (hereafter referred to as BFW) provides a first-pass approach to analyze ion transport in electrochemical cells. However, the balance sheet approach lacks first-principles justifications from the underlying equations that describe the transport processes in electrochemical cells. In this work, we compare a first-principles approach via the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations to describe ion transport in electrochemical cells to that of the balance sheet approach. By re-working the examples presented in BFW, we illustrate that the balance sheet approach is only valid in limited scenarios. Furthermore, we show that the PNP equations provide a more physical route to analyze ion transport in electrochemical systems. We hope the approach outlined here will be adopted by electrochemical engineering researchers and instructors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_04070
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rethinking Balance Sheets: A Poisson-Nernst-Planck Based Approach for Modeling Concentration and Flux Profiles Inside an Electrochemical Cell
Origer, Grace
Raj, Ritu R.
Jarvey, Nathan
Zavala, P. N. Romero
Smith, Wilson A.
Gupta, Ankur
Chemical Physics
Electrochemical cells serve as a building block for producing and storing electrical energy from chemical reactions. The analysis of ion transport in these systems forms the foundation for understanding more complex electrochemical systems that are becoming increasingly present in the broader societal energy infrastructure. From a pedagogical perspective, the ``balance sheets" introduced in Chapter 4 of Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications by Alan J. Bard, Larry R. Faulkner and Henry S. White (hereafter referred to as BFW) provides a first-pass approach to analyze ion transport in electrochemical cells. However, the balance sheet approach lacks first-principles justifications from the underlying equations that describe the transport processes in electrochemical cells. In this work, we compare a first-principles approach via the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations to describe ion transport in electrochemical cells to that of the balance sheet approach. By re-working the examples presented in BFW, we illustrate that the balance sheet approach is only valid in limited scenarios. Furthermore, we show that the PNP equations provide a more physical route to analyze ion transport in electrochemical systems. We hope the approach outlined here will be adopted by electrochemical engineering researchers and instructors.
title Rethinking Balance Sheets: A Poisson-Nernst-Planck Based Approach for Modeling Concentration and Flux Profiles Inside an Electrochemical Cell
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04070