Mathematical analysis of reactive ion transport in dynamic equilibrium: The case of two ionic species

Abstract

An exact solution for the transport of two reacting ion species in a drift tube is developed. The calculation of the temporal variation of ion fluxes is simplified using an approximate formulation in terms of the reaction frequencies, drift velocities, and longitudinal diffusion coefficients. The exact and approximate formulations are compared for the case of (N₂⁺, N₄⁺)/N₂ with a view to establishing the approach to equilibrium.