Abstract
Flicker noise of electric currents through ion-selective membranes is explained. It is attributed to the depletion of salt on one side of the membrane, which creates a thin layer of high resistance. Joule heating in this depletion layer and the ensuing temperature gradient, as well as the concentration gradient, give rise to buoyant forces which may create a turbulent convection current. The turbulence mixes the depletion layer so that the electric resistance fluctuates, and consequently the current flickers.
Experiments with ion-selective membranes support this conjecture. They show that 1) Noise is coincident with the increase of the electric resistance by the depletion process. 2) When the current density is reduced, it reaches a critical value, below which the convection current changes from turbulent to laminar, and the noise disappears. 3) Noise reduces with temperature, because the expansion coefficient of water decreases with temperature, and its viscosity increases. 4) A non-ionic water-soluble polymer added to the compartment on the side of the depletion layer reduces the noise, by increasing the bulk viscosity of the solution. 5) Noise depends on the membrane's orientation in the gravitational field. 6) The convection-current in the depletion layer can be observed directly, using a laser-beam, by adding latex particles which create optical noise as they drift with the convection current across the beam. The optical noise is observed only coincidently with the current noise.
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Lifson, S., Gavish, B. & Reich, S. Flicker noise of ion-selective membranes and turbulent convection in the depleted layer. Biophys. Struct. Mechanism 4, 53–65 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00538840
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00538840