The Anodic Oxidation of Copper Amalgam and Polycrystalline Copper Electrodes in LiOH Solution

Abstract

The anodic behavior of copper in lithium hydroxide solution was investigated at room temperature under controlled potential conditions. The electrodes were either saturated copper amalgams or small polycrystalline wires. Particular attention was focused on the copper (I) region. Two layer‐planes of were formed at anodic overpotentials following the dissolution of copper (I) hydroxy complexes on the copper amalgam electrodes. Some novel data are reported concerning the nucleation of holes in these layers during the reverse reaction. Behavior analogous to that of the amalgam electrodes was observed on the polycrystalline electrodes, except that a thick layer of was also formed on top of the previously formed layer‐planes. A model is proposed for the growth of this thick layer, and it is demonstrated that this model also describes the galvanostatic data acquired by earlier workers.