Partial currents of anodic oxidation of copper in alkaline media according to RRDE data. I. Theory of the method

Abstract

Anodic oxidation of copper in alkaline media is presented in the form of a sum of concurrent partial processes. An approach to using the method of chronoamperometry on a rotating ring–disk electrode is developed for establishing the kinetics of partial processes of anodic copper oxidation taking into account the possibility of its chemical oxidation by traces of dissolved oxygen. The possibility of implementation of two different cases after switching off anodic disk electrode polarization is shown: prevailing chemical dissolution of oxide Cu(I) or chemical copper postoxidation with formation of this oxide. The conditions of realization of the first or second case are determined by the value of thermodynamic activity of the oxide phase reached at the moment of termination of anodic polarization of the disk electrode.