Role of the diffuse layer of the ionic charge on the impedance spectroscopy of a cell of liquid

We investigate the role of the diffuse layer of the ionic cloud on impedance spectroscopy measurements. The analysis is performed assuming that the ions have equal mobility, the electrodes are perfectly blocking and adsorption phenomenon can be neglected. We find that the dielectric permittivity, in the limit of high frequency ω, tends to the dielectric permittivity of the pure liquid as ω−3/2. The relationship between the detected equivalent permittivity and conductivity of the cell with the real and imaginary part of the complex dielectric constant is discussed. We show also that the presence of the ions is responsible for a distribution of relaxation times. An application to nematic liquid crystals is presented.