Electrode properties of various carbon anodes containing different sizes and distributions of pores

Abstract

Differences in electrode properties and in fluorine electrolysis behaviors of various carbon anodes, which were the YBD-like grade carbon, the YBD grade carbon and the P2X grade carbon, containing different pore sizes and distributions were investigated. The evaluations were performed by measuring their mechanical properties, cyclic voltammograms and chronoamperometries in 0.5M K2SO4 solution with 1 mM [Fe(CN)6]3-/[Fe(CN)6]4- redox couple and electrochemical behaviours of fluorine electrolysis in molten KF · 2HF electrolyte at 85oC. It was found that the P2X grade carbon anode showed better electrode properties in the cyclic voltammogram and chronoamperometry than the other carbon anodes while the YBD-like grade carbon anode which contained the pore size of 200
300 mm showed superior electrode properties for fluorine electrolysis to the others. These differences in the electrode properties of various carbon anodes seemed to be owing to different sizes and distributions of pores on their surfaces.