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Electrolysis

Electrolysis uses electricity to drive nonspontaneous redox reactions by passing a current through an electrolyte. During electrolysis, ions are discharged at the electrodes: cations at the cathode and anions at the anode. The products depend on factors like ion selectivity and concentration. Faraday's laws state that the mass of substance produced is directly proportional to current over time and inversely proportional to ion charge. Electrolysis has many applications including electroplating, metal extraction, metal purification, and effluent treatment.

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360 views16 pages

Electrolysis

Electrolysis uses electricity to drive nonspontaneous redox reactions by passing a current through an electrolyte. During electrolysis, ions are discharged at the electrodes: cations at the cathode and anions at the anode. The products depend on factors like ion selectivity and concentration. Faraday's laws state that the mass of substance produced is directly proportional to current over time and inversely proportional to ion charge. Electrolysis has many applications including electroplating, metal extraction, metal purification, and effluent treatment.

Uploaded by

Faizal Halim
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELECTROLYSIS

The electrolytic cell

Consisting of two electrodes immersed in an electrolyte for carrying out electrolysis A direct electric current is passed through the electrolyte from external source Anode- the electrode connected to the positive pole (Oxidation occurs at the anode) Cathode the electrode connected to the negative pole of baterry (Reduction occur)

Electrolysis

Factors affecting the products formed during electrolysis i. Selective Discharge of Ions -The cation is discharged at the cathode and the anion is discharged at the anode. ii. Effect of concentration on electrolysis iii. Nature of electrode and overvoltage effect

Electrolytic cell

Electrolysis of molten sodium chloride Electrolysis of Aqueous sodium chloride

Faradays Laws of Electrolysis


Number of coulombs (C) = Amperes (A) x Time(s) The Faraday constant (F) is the charge on one mole of electron F=Lxe where L = Avogadro constant and e = electrical charge on one electron F = (6.02 x 10 23 )mol -1 x (1.6 x 10 -19)C = 9.65 x 104 Cmol -1 1 Faraday(F) is the quantity of electricity (9.65 x 10 4 C)

Faradays 1st Law


The factors that influence the mass of a substance i. the magnitude of the electric current used ii. The time taken for the electricity to pass through the electrolyte iii. The charge on the ion Faradays first Law states that the mass of substance produced at an electrode during electrolysis is proportional to the quantity of electricity (in coulombs) passed.

Faradays 2nd Law

States that if the same quantity of electricity is passed through different electrolytes, the mass of the substance liberated at the electrode is inversely proportional to the charges on the ions 1F of electricity will discharge 1 mole of Ag+, but mole of Cu2+ ions, 1/3 mole of Al3+ and mole of oxygen gas

Quantitative Aspects of electrolysis

Sample exercise 20.14 (pg 885)

Application of electrolysis

Electroplating uses electrolysis to deposit a thin layer of one metal (eg, chromium, silver and nickel) on another metal in order to improve beauty or resistance to corrosion

Extraction of metal

Used to isolate the very reactive metals in Group 1 and 2 of Periodic Table and the metal aluminum from their ores
Metal Sodium Magnesium Aluminum Source Rock salt Dolomite Bauxite Electrolyte Molten NaCl Molten MgCl2 Pure Al2O3 dissolved in molten cryolite

Purification metal

Electrorefining of metal The pure metal is deposited at a cathode, from a solution containing the metal ions Eg; the purification of copper - the cathode is thin sheet of pure copper, the anode is a piece of impure copper and the electrolyte is copper (II)sulphate solution

Manufacture of chemicals

Electrolysis is used to decompose ionic compound and to convert them into more useful and valuable chemicals Eg; the conversion of sea water (brine) into hydrogen, chlorine and sodium hydroxide using the diaphragm cell

Electroplating plastics

The plastic must first be made electrically conducting by coating it with graphite powder. An electrolysis process is then used to deposit copper on a plastic circuit board. Copper acts as the electrical conductor The process of electroplating copper on to plastic improves the quality of microelectronic circuit boards

Anodizing

This is the process of coating aluminum objects with aluminum oxide. The object forms the anode The electrolyte is dilute sulphuric acid Anodizing is used to a) make the Al objects even more resistant to corrosion, because Al oxide forms a thin protective layer b) to produce a decorative finish because Al oxide can absorb colored dyes

Effluent treatment

The supply of drinking water comes from rivers, lakes and underground water (sometimes polluted because of industrial waste dumped by factories) The effluent contains metal ions as nickel, cadmium and chromium The main method to treat this type of effluent is by electrolysis

Electrical Work
W max = - nFE
Sample Exercise 20.15 (pg 887)

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