On surface conduction and its role in electrokinetics

A review is given of the role of surface conduction in electrokinetics. Experimental evidence is considered to indicate when such conduction has to be considered and to what extent this conduction is carried by charges within the stagnant layer. For non-penetrable surfaces, lateral mobilities of monovalent ions in the stern layer are not much lower than those in bulk and under certain conditions conduction behind the slip plane may be of the same order of magnitude as that beyond it. New experiments on the conductivity of polystyrene latex plugs illustrate these phenomena. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.