Abstract: The water dissociation mechanism on a bipolar membrane under the electrical field was investigated and characterized in terms of ionic transport and limiting current density.It is considered that the depletion layer exists at the junction of a bipolar membrane, which is coincided with the viewpoint of the most literatures, but we also consider that the thickness and conductivity of this layer is not only related with the increase of the applied voltage but also with the limiting current density.Below the limiting current density, the thickness of the depletion layer keeps a constant and the conductivity decreases with the increase of the applied voltage;while above the limiting current density, the depletion thickness will increase with the increase of the applied voltage and the conductivity keeps a very low constant.Based on the data reported in the literatures and independent determinations, the limiting current density was calculated and the experimental curves Ⅰ- Ⅴ in the two directions were compared with the theoretical calculations.It is demonstrated that above the limiting current density, the experimental results,either in the L-H direction or in the H-L direction, are consistent with the theoretical calculations; below the limiting current density, a slight deviation exists between the experimental and the theoretical results, and between the experimental results in the two directions.The change in Donnan potential due to the asymmetry of the mono-layers and the changes of ionic composition in the two directions is possibly responsible for this deviation.

Key words: Bipolar membrane, Water dissociation, Ionic transport, Limiting current density