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==In electrochemistry==
In [[electrochemistry]], concentration polarization denotes the part of the [[Electrical polarity|polarization]] of an electrolytic cell resulting from changes in the electrolyte concentration due to the passage of current through the electrode/solution interface <ref>S.P. Parker, McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms 6E, 2003.</ref>. Here [[polarization]] is understood as the shift of the potential difference across the cell from its equilibrium value. When the term is used in this sense, it is equivalent to “[[Overpotential#Concentration_overpotential|concentration overpotential]]” <ref>A.J. Bard, G.R. Inzelt, F. Scholz (Eds.), Electrochemical Dictionary, Springer, Berlin, 2012.</ref><ref>J. Manzanares, K. Kontturi, In: Bard A.J., Stratmann M., Calvo E.J., editors. In Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry, Interfacial Kineticsand Mass Transport, VCH-Wiley, Weinheim; 2003.</ref>.
The cause of the changes in concentration (emergence of concentration gradients in the solution adjacent to the electrode surface) is the difference in the rate of electrochemical reaction at the electrode and the rate of ion migration in the solution from/to the surface. When a chemical species participating in an electrochemical electrode reaction is in short supply, the concentration of this species at the surface decreases causing diffusion, which is added to the migration transport towards the surface in order to maintain the balance of consumption and delivery of that species.
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