Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
Phenomenon · phenomenon:capacitive-mixing

Capacitive mixing

Electrodes charged in salt water and discharged in fresh water return more energy than they took, because the electric double layer expands as the salinity drops.

Electrochemistryfirst reported 2009also: CapMix, double-layer expansion

Atlas record: 5 claims reference this phenomenon — 4 demonstrated and 1 established.

Explorerelations · matrix context · routes · sources · cite

conditions: aqueous medium required
5claims1enumerated routes1routes with complete-composition evidence0candidate routes not searched2cited sources

Relations

drives · 1
Salinity gradient—drives→Capacitive mixingdemonstrated
  • porous carbon electrodes charged in salt water and discharged in fresh water in a four-step cycle
One primary experiment on record in this atlas; later replications exist in the literature but are not yet recorded here.
produces · 1
Capacitive mixing—produces→Ionic currentdemonstrated
member of · 1
Capacitive mixing—member of→Osmotic / salinity-gradientdemonstrated
implemented by · 1
Capacitive mixing—implemented by→Capacitive mixing celldemonstrated
bounded by · 1
Capacitive mixing—bounded by→Free energy of mixingestablished

Matrix context

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.04 × C.22 · Salinity gradient × Osmotic / salinity-gradient · Established
family: Osmotic / salinity-gradient (C.22)

Enumerated routes through this · 1

Cited sources · 2

  1. [1]
    D. Brogioli. Extracting renewable energy from a salinity difference using a capacitor (2009)
    Physical Review Letters 103, 058501 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.058501 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record
  2. [2]
    B. E. Logan, M. Elimelech. Membrane-based processes for sustainable power generation using water (2012)
    Nature 488, 313–319 · doi:10.1038/nature11477 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-19 · record

Cite this entity

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). entity phenomenon:capacitive-mixing: Capacitive mixing. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/phenomenon/capacitive-mixing

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