Rotating copper disk electrode studies of the mechanism of the dissolution-passivation step on copper in alkaline solutions

Abstract

From rotating copper disk electrochemistry and analysis of potentiostatic transients it was demonstrated that copper dissolves reversibly as Cu(OH) 4 −2 . It was also shown that passivation of the electrode surface occurred by a nucleation and growth mechanism similar in principle to that proposed by Armstrong et al. . The passivating film formed under potentiostatic conditions on the electrode appears to be Cu(OH) 2 .