Electrochemical formation and characterization of silver (I) oxide

The kinetics of Ag2O formation has been investigated in 0.1M, 0.3M, 1M and 2M NaOH solutions on polycrystalline Ag electrodes by cyclic voltammetry and potentiostatic pulse techniques. It was shown that the concentration of NaOH plays an important role in the process of Ag2O formation. At high concentration of NaOH (greater than or equal to 1M) the process is not controlled by diffusion of reacting species and nucleation phenomenon is clearly detected on potentiostatic j-t transients. SEM micrographs of the chemically polished Ag surface and surface after the oxide formation reveals considerable roughening of the Ag surface after Ag2O formation and reduction. Two types of oxide morphology were detected by SEM. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction examination was found to be in good agreement with the SEM results.