One significant contribution to the anodic potential during aluminium electrolysis is the formation of CO 2 bubbles that screen the anode surface. This effect creates an additional ohmic resistance as well as an increased reaction overpotential, hyperpolarisation, as the effective surface area decreases. This work aims to improve the understanding of how anode properties -including isotropy at the optical domain level, wettability (towards electrolyte), surface roughness and porosity -affect bubble 2 evolution. Pilot anodes, made with single source coke types varying in isotropy, were used to study bubble evolution by electrochemical methods. In order to retain bubbles during experiments, anodes were designed to have only horizontal surface area.Bubble formation and release were monitored at different current densities, and were tracked by measuring the oscillations in anode potential and series resistance. Anodes made from different cokes were found to have different bubble evolution properties, possibly due to variation in the density of nucleation sites at the surface of each anode and varying anode-electrolyte wettability.
Sn is widely used as a coating in the electronics industry because it provides excellent solderability, ductility, electrical conductivity, and corrosion resistance. However, Sn whiskers have been observed to grow spontaneously from Sn electrodeposits and are known to cause short circuits in fine-pitched pretinned electrical components. We report here a deposition strategy that produces an equi-axed and size-tunable grain structure in Sn-Bi alloys electrodeposited from a commercial bright Sn electrolyte. An equi-axed grain structure should allow a more uniform creep to relieve compressive stress with no localized surface disturbance. The standard potential for Bi is about 0.45 V more positive than Sn. Pulsed deposition can selectively turn on and off the Sn deposition reaction. During the off cycle, a displacement reaction between metallic Sn on the electrode surface and Bi 3+ in solution selectively dissolves Sn and deposits Bi, effectively terminating the growth from the previous cycle and forcing the Sn to nucleate a new grain on the Bi-enriched surface. The grain size is tunable by varying the pulsing conditions, and an equi-axed structure can be obtained with as little as 3 at.% Bi. This surface enrichment of Bi by potential modulation is similar to that which occurs naturally in Sn-Pb, and provides an avenue for breaking up the columnar grain structure inherent to pure Sn, thus providing an additional diffusion path for Sn that may prevent whisker growth.
Three different concepts for H 2 -Cl 2 fuel cells have been evaluated. An ordinary PEM fuel cell based on a Nafion membrane, a fuel cell based on a combination of circulating hydrochloric acid and a Nafion membrane and a system based on a phosphoric acid doped Polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane. None of the investigated systems were able to demonstrate stable operation under the conditions used in this study, due to electrocatalyst corrosion, membrane dehydration and/or electrode flooding. All systems studied achieved open circuit voltages close to the reversible thermodynamic value for production of aqueous hydrochloric acid, suggesting formation of dissolved HCl in the electrolyte and fast electrode kinetics.
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