Figure 3. H⁺- OH⁻ junction.

(a) Red trace- Experimental data for IV characteristics of a H⁺ OH⁻ junction formed by maleic chitosan and proline chitosan. The curve shows the expected nonlinearity. Black dots - data from simulations for the same junction using the semiconductor model. (b) When a H⁺ doped and OH⁻ doped material are placed into contact OH⁻ diffuse into the H⁺ region and H⁺ diffuse into the OH⁻ region until the μ_H+ on both sides is the same. H⁺ and OH⁻ recombine in the depletion region. A contact potential V₀ occurs across the junction and is dependent of the difference in μ_H+ of both sides. (c) A forward bias (+ive on H⁺ side) applied between source and drain reduces the contact barrier e(V₀-V_MP) and thermionic emission of H⁺ into OH⁻ side and vice versa occurs.