Near-electrode and transient processes in liquid dielectrics

Electron transfer kinetics between an electrode and an electron acceptor in electrolytes, liquid dielectrics, and dense gases is comparatively analyzed for the case of a weak electric field. Near-electrode charge distribution patterns in a liquid dielectric (or a dense weekly conducting gas) exposed to an external high-voltage field are examined. It is shown that the quadratic dependence of current-voltage characteristics of the system is determined by the character of electron transitions from surface states. The transient processes involved are discussed, and characteristic formation times for steady-state near-electrode patterns are calculated.