Electrolyte electrochemical reduction

Electrowinning from Aqueous Solutions. Electrowinriing is the recovery of a metal by electrochemical reduction of one of its compounds dissolved in a suitable electrolyte. Various types of solutions can be used, but sulfuric acid and sulfate solutions are preferred because these are less corrosive than others and the reagents are fairly cheap. From an electrochemical viewpoint, the high mobiUty of the hydrogen ion leads to high conductivity and low ohmic losses, and the sulfate ion is electrochemicaHy inert under normal conditions. 

New Synthesis. Many attempts have been made to synthesize oxaUc acid by electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in either aqueous or nonaqueous electrolytes (53—57). For instance, oxaUc acid is prepared from CO2 as its Zn salt in an undivided ceU with Zn anodes and stainless steel cathodes ia acetonitrile containing (C4H2)4NC104 and current efficiency of >90% (53). Micropilot experiments and a process design were also made. 

Electrolytic Reductions. Both nitro compounds and nitriles can be reduced electrochemically. One advantage of electrochemical reduction is the cleanness of the operation. Since there are a minimum of by-products, both waste disposal and purification of the product are greatiy simplified. However, unless very cheap electricity is available, these processes are generally too expensive to compete with the traditional chemical methods. 

It has recently been reported that a molecule, claimed to contain a high concentration of conjugated alkyne units, can be prepared by electrochemical reduction of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [32,33]. The reduction is carried out using magnesium and stainless steel as anode and cathode respectively. The electrolyte solution contains THE (.30 cm ), LiCI (0.8 g) and FeCl2 (0.48 g). A 10 X 10 nm PTFE film, covered with solvent, is reduced to carbyne (10 V for 10 h)... 

Electrodeposition deposition of a metal or alloy onto a substrate by electrochemical reduction of its ions from an electrolyte under the application of a cathodic overpotential. 

During electrochemical reduction (charge) of the carbon host, lithium cations from the electrolyte penetrate into the carbon and form a lithiated carbon Li rCn. The corresponding negative charges are accepted by the carbon host lattice. As for any other electrochemical insertion process, the prerequisite for the formation of lithiated carbons is a host material that exhibits mixed (electronic and ionic) conductance. 

Staging phenomena as well as the degree of intercalation can be easily observed during the electrochemical reduction of carbons in Li+-containing electrolytes. Figure 6 (left) shows a schematic poten-tial/composition curve for the galvanostatic... 

Electrochemical reductions and oxidations proceed in a more defined and controllable fashion because the potential can be maintained at the value suitable for a one-electron transfer and the course of the electrolysis can be followed polarographically and by measurement of the esr or electronic spectra. In some cases, conversion is low, which may be disadvantageous. Electrolytic generation of radical ions is a general method, and it has therefore become widely used in various applications. In Figures 3 and 4, we present electrochemical cells adapted for esr studies and for measurements of electronic spectra. Recently, electrochemical techniques have been developed that permit generation of unstable radicals at low temperatures (18-21). 

The electrochemical reduction of 4//-thiopyrans bearing four electron-withdrawing substituents leads to 5,6-dihydro-2//-thiopyrans. Four diastereoisomers are produced, their relative proportions depending on the electrolytic conditions. Their conformations have been established using the vinylic proton as an nmr probe and confirmed in some instances by X-ray analysis <96JCS(P2)2623>. 

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is usually conducted in aqueous or nonaqueous electrolyte solutions at cathodes made of various materials. As a result, various organic substances can form. The most common reactions are as follows ... 

The electrochemical reduction reactions of the central metallotetraphenylporphyrin moieties are, fortunately, much more straightforwardly analyzed (1,2). With few exceptions, when transferred to a fresh supporting electrolyte solution, films formed from ECP reactions like Fig. 2A exhibit electrochemical reduction waves at or very near the potentials observed for reductions of the corresponding monomers dissolved in solutions. For example, a film formed oxidatively as in Fig. 2A gives in fresh electrolyte the reductive gyclic voltammogram of Fig. 2B. 

Harle and Lyons isolated a mixture of dl and meso hydrodimers from the electrochemical reduction of coumarin (146) at pH 6.8 14t Archer and Grim-shaw, on the other hand, isolated a single diastereomer in high yield upon electrolytic reduction of 3-phenylcoumarin (147) in methanolic hydrogen chloride 141), Interpretation of the difference between the behavior of 146 and 147... 

Magnesium-air air cells with NaCl-electrolyte were developed and investigated. The current-voltage and the discharge characteristics of the cells with were studied. Air gas-diffusion electrodes suitable for operation in NaCl-electrolytes were designed. Various carbon-based catalysts for the electrochemical reduction were tested in these air electrodes. Magnesium alloys suitable for use as anodes in Mg-air cells were found. 

The consequences of the electrochemical reduction of high valence chromium species would be the precipitation of Cr203 solid phase at the cathode-electrolyte interface boundary. These led to the hypothesis that the degradation mechanism of LSM cathode is dominated by an electrochemical reduction of high valence vapor species of chromium (Cr03 and C OH O to solid phase Cr203 in competition with the 02 reduction reaction, followed by the chemical reaction with LSM to form (Cr,Mn)304 phases at the TPB, blocking the active sites [174-180], The process is written as follows [174] ... 

Direct electrochemical reduction of perfluoroalkyl halides generates perfluoroalkyl radicals or anions depending on the electrolytic conditions and starting halides. Calas et al. have performed the electrocatalytic addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides to 3-hydroxyalkynes in aqueous KCI emulsion using a... 

Allred et al. studied the electrochemical reduction of Me3SiCl in acetonitrile using a platinum cathode [82], They reported that the choice of the supporting electrolyte is important for the formation of the disilane. When Bu4NC104 was... 

FIGURE 1.22. Solvent reorganization energies derived from the standard rate constants of the electrochemical reduction of aromatic hydrocarbons in DMF (with n-Bu4N+ as the cation of the supporting electrolyte) uncorrected from double-layer effects. Variation with the equivalent hard-sphere radii. Dotted line, Hush s prediction. Adapted from Figure 4 in reference 13, with permission from the American Chemical Society. 

ELECTRODEPOSITION AND ELECTROLYTIC REDUCTION (ELECTROWINNING) 6.8.1 Electrochemical reduction... 

The electrochemical reduction of pure hydrocarbons without functional groups is almost exclusively restricted to unsaturated compounds. The reason is that aliphatic hydrocarbons have extremely low electron affinities that render their reduction impossible, despite a gain of solvation energy within the stability limits of conventional solvent-electrolyte systems. 

It can only be shielded by ion pairing that drives the formation of the tetraanion to a potential sufficiently positive for reduction to occur within the stability range of the solvent-electrolyte system. Thus, the electrochemical reduction of... 

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