Electro-osmosis
From Free net encyclopedia
In physics, electro-osmosis, also called electroendosmosis, is the motion of polar liquid through a membrane or other porous structure (generally, along charged surfaces of any shape and also through non-macroporous materials which have ionic sites and allow for water uptake, the latter sometimes referred to as "chemical porosity" ) under the influence of an applied electric field.
In fuel cells, electro-osomosis causes protons moving through a proton exchange membrane (PEM) to drag water molecules from one side (anode) to the other (cathode).
Electro-osmosis was first described by F.F. Reuss in 1809. It has growing applications in microfluidics.