Contact glow discharge electrolysis: a study of its chemical yields in aqueous inert-type electrolytes

Abstract

A study of the chemical yields of contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE) at the anode in aqueous inert electrolytes at various quantities of electricity, applied voltages and electrolyte compositions shows that, for the passage of each mole of electrons, 0.25 mol of O2 and more than 1.0 mol of both H2 and H2O2 plus O2 are produced at the anode when the glow discharges there are fully grown. Non-faradaic yields may originate in two reaction zones: the anolyte near the plasma where liquid water molecules are broken up into H2O2, O2 and H2, and the plasma around the anode where gas phase dissociation of water molecules into H2 and O2 occurs. The former is important for anodic CGDE. Hickling's radiolytic mechanism has been applied to interpret the chemical results of the liquid phase reaction zone. A comparative study of the chemical yields of anodic and cathodic CGDE indicates that the breakup of water molecules occurs entirely in the plasma during cathodic CGDE, but primarily in the liquid anolyte and partly in the plasma during the anodic phenomenon.