Appearance of nonuniform electric fields in solid ionic conductors

A computer model is used to study charge transport in ionic materials upon the application of an electrochemical potential gradient. The model incorporates both the diffusion and drift mechanisms, permitting the evaluation of the contribution of each mechanism. Each mechanism is shown to be dominant depending on the material parameters and the experimental conditions. The results obtained are compatible with experimental and theoretical ones as reported in the literature, suggesting that in several cases studying the transport of mobile species in ionic materials upon the application of an electrochemical potential gradient, the existence of an internal field cannot be ignored. Published in Russian in Elektrokhimiya, 2007, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 398–401. The text was submitted by the authors in English.