Stoichiometric Ag Research Articles

Dissolution of AgO in Acid and Alkaline Media

THE oxide AgO is a diamagnetic, monoclinic, stoichiometric Ag(I)–Ag(III) oxide1,2. Its behaviour in acid solutions is well known: it dissolves as bivalent silver with 1.98 effective magnetons perion3,4. The nature and parameters of the magnetic complex do not depend critically on the stabilizing acid5, namely, nitric, sulphuric, perchloric, hydrofluoric or orthophosphoric. It has cylindrical magnetic symmetry, as most of the bivalent silver complex compounds6. The dissolution of AgO in alkaline solutions, however, is a well-known process in regard to the solubility, although the nature of the product is only speculative. Studies of the variation of the solubility with pH have led to the formulation of the dissolution products: