Furthermore his electrochemical investigations, and particularly his discovery of the important law of electrolysis, that the movement of a certain quantity of electricity through an electrolyte is always accompanied by the transfer of a certain definite quantity of matter from one electrode to another and the liberation at these electrodes of an equivalent weight of the ions, gave foundation for the idea of a definite atomic charge of electricity.
The opposite parts of an electrolyte, which work their way through the liquid under the action of the electric forces, were named by Faraday the ions - the travellers.
Borchers also used an externally heated metal vessel as the cathode; it is provided with a supporting collar or flange a little below the top, so that the upper part of the vessel is exposed to the cooling influence of the air, in order that a crust of solidified salt may there be formed, and so prevent the creeping of the electrolyte over the top. The carbon anode passes through the cover of a porcelain cylinder, open at the bottom, and provided with a side-tube at the top to remove the chlorine formed during electrolysis.
In the 7th series (1834) he defines a number of new terms, such as electrolyte, electrolysis, anode and cathode, &c., in connexion with electrolytic phenomena, which were immediately adopted into the vocabulary of science.
The osmotic pressure of an electrolyte consisting of two ions is double that of a non-electrolyte.