| Abstract: | A fragment of the structure of a sulfo cation exchanger, which is the basis of most cation-exchange membranes, is calculated by an ab initio method. An analysis of interatomic bonds in the structure shows that, to detach a mobile ion from a fixed ion, it is necessary to break the hydrogen bond between hydration water molecules of the counterion in addition to overcoming the electrostatic attraction. As the hydrogen bond cleavage work for simple hydrated ions is ten times the electrostatic attraction energy, an elementary act of ion transport in a cation-exchange membrane is considered mostly as the hydrogen bond transfer reaction. |
