Electrochemical Oscillations during Electro-oxidation of Copper Anode in Phosphoric Acid Solution

Abstract

This paper reports the occurrence of electrochemical oscillations (EOs) in Cu electro-oxidation of phosphoric acid solution, and systematically investigated the effect of potential, electrolyte composition and concentration, temperature, stirring rate, and scanning speed on EOs. The mechanism of EOs occurred as a result of deposition and dissolution effects of CuH₂PO₄ through electro-oxidation of the Cu anode. The experimental result for amplitude and frequency can be explained by this simplified qualitative analysis, and further verified the previously speculated EO mechanism. This study provides insights into the relevance of micro-chemical mechanisms for the macroscopic non-equilibrium phenomenon and presents novel concepts for highly efficient electrodissolution in metallurgy.