ELECTROLYSIS AND ISOELECTRIC-FOCUSING

This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the authors prove the existence of steady-state solutions for a three-species electrolyte. The species are subject to both dissociation-association reactions inside the electrolyte and electrochemical reactions at the boundary electrodes. This is a common occurrence in electrolysis. In the second part, the authors investigate how to use this model to describe isoelectric focusing, which is a common technique used to separate large protein molecules. In particular, the isoelectric focusing point for a particular type of protein molecule is calculated using formal perturbation analysis.