Abstract
The redox reaction of gold III chloride in acid solutions has been electro-chemically investigated using a cyclic voltammetry technique. This paper emphasizes the current and potential sites at which gold III chloride is reduced in hydrochloric acid that is vital to electrochemical evaluation of gold recovery. The solutions were prepared by reacting HCl with AuCl3 in various concentrations thus 30 and 60 mg/L AuCl3 in 0.1 and 0.5 M HCl, respectively. Solutions of 0.1 and 0.5 M HCl containing 0, 30 and 60 mg/L AuCl3, respectively were tested for possible reduction and oxidation reactions by cyclic voltammogram experiment using a glassy carbon, a saturated calomel and a platinum wire mesh as working, reference and counter electrodes, respectively. The results showed no peak in the case of the absence of AuCl3 in the solutions, but appreciable cathodic and anodic peaks for the reduction and oxidation of various concentrations of AuCl3 in acid solutions. The reaction between AuCl3 and HCl was found to be reversible because the ratio of oxidation peak current and reduction peak current was 1. The concentration of AuCl-4 on the surface of the working electrode at the reduction site for each AuCl3 concentration using Nernst equation was 1.22 × 109 ppm and 2.44 × 109 ppm. The reduction potentials were independent of concentration, while the current was highly dependent of concentration.
Highlights
IntroductionSynthetic solutions are used to study the extraction of gold in a preliminary laboratory experiment
The results showed no peak in the case of the absence of AuCl3 in the solutions, but appreciable cathodic and anodic peaks for the reduction and oxidation of various concentrations of AuCl3 in acid solutions
The results showed that anodic and cathodic peaks were present in the solution containing AuCl3 of various concentrations, while no peaks were generated in HCl solution in the absence of AuCl3
Summary
Synthetic solutions are used to study the extraction of gold in a preliminary laboratory experiment. In this study, solutions of gold III chloride in HCl were prepared to investigate reversible and redox reactions using a cyclic voltammetry technique. Few studies have been carried out on the electrochemical reduction to metal, such as the electrochemical reduction of silver from iodide solutions [3]. Fourcade and Tzedakis [3] used a potentiostat as the electrochemical apparatus with a silver disk working electrode, a saturated calomel reference electrode and a platinum counter electrode to measure all the electrode potentials during the adsorption experiments. Tao et al [4] reported scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and electrochemical study of the interplay between redox properties, adsorption, and self-assembly processes of porphins on Au surfaces
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