Pressure-Driven Bipolar Electrochemistry

Here we report that pressure-driven flow alone (no external electrical energy) can be used to drive faradaic electrochemical reactions in microchannels with charged walls. Specifically, we show that solution flow can generate streaming potentials on the order of volts and that this is sufficient to carry out reactions on the anodic and cathodic poles of a bipolar electrode (BPE). The existence of faradaic reactions is proven by electrodissolution of Ag from the anodic end of the BPE.