Research Center for Process and Prevention of Water Pollution

Associate Professor Fengjun Yin published a technical paper “Acid-base transport model depicting the dynamic pH response of interfacial reactions” in AIChE Journal, https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.17669. Acid-base transport is integral to many important interfacial reactions in various fields of chemistry, but its theoretical foundation is lacked. In this paper, a common acid-base transport model is established owing to the success in deriving buffer transport equations. This model is applicable to most buffer systems and is verified by using hydrogen evolution reaction experiments. Based on model calculations, two diagram approaches are proposed to depict the dynamic pH response and aid buffer operation optimizations. The model and methods allow us to quantify the rate-limiting effect of acid-base transport on interfacial reactions and to precisely control the effect through medium regulations. Furthermore, the model has laid the foundation of dynamic pH effect on species transformation and process mechanism, which can be of wide interest in the chemistry encompassing interfacial reactions.