Abstract
A theoretical analysis of the voltage-current relationship is carried out in a membrane consisting of two fixed charge regions, of opposite sign, in contact. This is achieved by applying the diffusion equations to this system in conjunction with the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The latter has been successfully applied by Mauro to determine the profiles of the electrostatic potential in his treatment of the capacitative property of such a system. It is shown that the system displays the property of rectification and is very similar in many respects to a solid state P-N junction diode. It is also shown that for the case of reverse bias, an electrical breakdown phenomena can occur. This is referred to as the “punch-through” effect. “Punch-through” was observed in experiments on the electrical characteristics of the membranes of Chara australis and Nitella sp. The experimental results are discussed in relation to the theoretical analysis.
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Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Mauro A. Space Charge Regions in Fixed Charge Membranes and the Associated Property of Capacitance. Biophys J. 1962 Mar;2(2 Pt 1):179–198. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(62)86848-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]