Energy-barrier models for membrane transport

Energy-barrier models are analyzed to find hidden assumptions and establish ranges of validity. The analysis proceeds by comparison with integrated results for model continuum membranes. The main conclusions are that a simple energy-barrier model has a wide range of validity, is remarkably accurate even when its conditions of validity are not strictly met, and is almost always superior to the analogous equations of irreversible thermodynamics. Its major limitations are a possible nonphysical divergence at high electric fields or volume flows caused by breakdown of the transition-state approximation, and the inability to treat multicomponent mixtures except in a pseudobinary (Nernst-Planck) approximation.