Zinc Accretion on Electrode - Thought Experiment

"On the assumption that zinc from the supplements will be attracted to electrically active electrodes:..."

I'm no kind of chemist, but why should zinc (or anything else) be attracted to an electrode which would be electrically neutral at DC? (The electrode would presumably have an AC excitation signal with respect to an earthing electrode (pad on arm, leg or whatever). I'm happy to be educated, however I've got it wrong.

Too late to edit, but from the link in the OP:

"The response is reversible with the stripping/measurement step completely removing the accumulated zinc."

Yes I saw that. I have read stuff at NINDS NIW about waveforms that cancel out accretion effects. In a neurostimulator system involving the eyes, electrochemical deposits form if charge imbalanced waveforms are used for the stimulus pulse train. They are removable by reversing the waveform for the same period of time afaict.

Or if you switch to a balanced waveform, it stops accumulating.

I wondered if there are other actions that would reverse accumulations. Would accumulations (if they are expected) dissipate in biological systems over short time spans. Or is there some other applicable mechanism.

I'm talking about a wireless receiver for a stimulus pulse train. I am no electrician! so I look forward to learning something about your question.

I was originally jumping to assumptions about externally applied electrodes. Thinking about something on or in the body, with a wireless connection, makes it simpler:

There can be no net charge on the receiver. If it is polarized (has one end positively charged with respect to the other), then maybe zinc (or anything else) could possibly accumulate on the charged ends. This would be a bad design!

As your cited paper explains, the zinc is attracted to the electrode while polarized in one sense, but is repelled when the polarity is reversed, leaving no net accumulation.

Thanks John DG.

That's the principle I was looking for. Simple reversal of polarity.

The device I'm talking about is designed to send electrical impulses to the nervous system. I'm thinking electrons, negative discharges into the body. As in DBS or VNS type devices for example. I would expect a surplus negative charge at the stimulator end, therefore capacity to attract ions. Am I mistaken?

I really don't know much about this, but I'd've thought an "electrical impulse" would be an AC excitation, rather than an injection of charge.

Handing over to someone (anyone?) who knows.

I could not pull up the link, so I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to do. However, it sounds a lot like anodic stripping voltammetry.

For some reason the original URL has stopped working.

Try this link.