Electrolytic eluent generators with stabilized operating voltages

A method comprising:

• providing an aqueous electrolyte solution to an electrolyte reservoir, the aqueous electrolyte solution including an electrolyte and a surfactant, the electrolyte reservoir coupled to an eluent generation chamber by an ion exchange connector, the ion exchange connector including an ion exchange membrane stack and a compression block;
• applying a voltage or current across a first electrode in the eluent generation chamber and a second electrode in the electrolyte reservoir;
• electrolytically splitting water at the first electrode to form a hydroxide anion or a hydronium ion in the eluent generation chamber;
• and
• migrating an ion from the electrolyte reservoir through the ion exchange membrane stack to the eluent generation chamber to combine with the hydroxide anion to form a cation hydroxide solution or the hydronium ion to form an anion acid solution for ion chromatography.