Mobility of actinide ions in electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis is a very useful analytic tool for the detection and separation of charged species like solutions of lanthanides or actinides. This article draws a theoretical description of electrophoretic mobility and of the ionic conductibility of solutions used in capillary electrophoresis. First, the mobility of ions in presence of various simple electrolytes has been computed by using the MSA (Mean Spherical Approximation) model. This model describes in a quantitative way the changes in the transport coefficients for concentrations in the order from 1 to 2 moles a liter. Then, the effect of the ionic force has been considered by taking into account the formation of chemical complexes and shifts with expected values. The electric conductivity of such weak electrolyte solutions has been computed and compared with experimental data in the case of solutions of sodium carbonate. It appears that the contribution of the various salts present in the solution has to be taken into account according to the evolution of salts' speciation and of their concentration