- #1
Rhannmah
- 17
- 0
Help! I was under the assumption that a gold electrode for oxygen would be able to sustain water electrolysis with sodium bicarbonate as the electrolyte without degrading, so I bought a foot long of 28 gauge 24k(pure gold) wire, but I've been putting it to the test for about 30 minutes and it's already starting to degrade!
Is this a behavior I should have expected? Have I been sold some non-pure gold? Admittedly, I've been putting some pretty heavy voltage through it to test the limits. Here's my experimental setup:
Is this a behavior I should have expected? Have I been sold some non-pure gold? Admittedly, I've been putting some pretty heavy voltage through it to test the limits. Here's my experimental setup:
- 1 graphite anode for hydrogen evolution
- 1 pure gold wire for oxygen evolution
- 1 power supply feeding 15 volts and 0.7 amps through the circuit
- 1 saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate and water
- electrodes are spaced about 1 inch apart, the graphite electrode offering MUCH more surface area than the gold wire