1. Nature and concentration of charge carriers

Electrolyte materials come in a wide variety of forms: liquids, solids, glasses, polymers, etc. What they have in common is that, on an atomic scale, they have a structure and composition that includes ions, i.e. atoms or atomic structures with a charge that is a multiple of the elementary charge (q _e = 1.6.10 ^–19 C). Movements must also be possible, which is the subject of paragraphs 2 and 3. In this first part, we review the different types of electrolyte, describing their microscopic structure and specifying the nature and quantity (expressed, for example, in concentration) of each of the charge carriers.

Due to the conductive nature of these materials, it can be shown that, at equilibrium, they all have zero volume charge. This is known as the property of electroneutrality....