Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Another lead dioxide question

NEMO-Chemistry - 19-7-2016 at 08:36

I have read alot of conflicting things on substrates for lead dioxide Anodes, would stainless steel work as a substrate?

CRUSTY - 19-7-2016 at 09:41

I couldn't find much on the use of stainless steel as a substrate, but this article says that "anodes of PbO2 electrodeposited onto a stainless steel substrate are strongly corroded in an acid medium." (pg. 2), but that was about all I could find.

NEMO-Chemistry - 19-7-2016 at 14:04

Quote: Originally posted by CRUSTY  
I couldn't find much on the use of stainless steel as a substrate, but this article says that "anodes of PbO2 electrodeposited onto a stainless steel substrate are strongly corroded in an acid medium." (pg. 2), but that was about all I could find.


Thanks, i didnt find much but i wasnt too sure what i was looking for.

I have found plating bath recipes from the utterly exotic to simply sticking lead in sulphuric acid and turning on the juice!

Lead is alot harder to get around here than i thought it would be, i went to the fishing tackle shop (i got a part time job there now!), and apparent lead weights for sea fishing are not lead!

I went to the scrap metal place around 30 miles away, they buy lead but wont sell it!

The local church dosnt look like the roof has any. So i might have to buy some lead Nitrate which will really annoy me.

I did have a small bit of lead and tried making lead nitrate, all the you tube vids show the solution as blue, mine was pretty colourless apart from a slight milky colour.

I refuse to buy lead so will keep hunting

wg48 - 19-7-2016 at 14:45

Quote: Originally posted by NEMO-Chemistry  
Quote: Originally posted by CRUSTY  
I couldn't find much on the use of stainless steel as a substrate, but this article says that "anodes of PbO2 electrodeposited onto a stainless steel substrate are strongly corroded in an acid medium." (pg. 2), but that was about all I could find.


Thanks, i didnt find much but i wasnt too sure what i was looking for.

I have found plating bath recipes from the utterly exotic to simply sticking lead in sulphuric acid and turning on the juice!

Lead is alot harder to get around here than i thought it would be, i went to the fishing tackle shop (i got a part time job there now!), and apparent lead weights for sea fishing are not lead!

I went to the scrap metal place around 30 miles away, they buy lead but wont sell it!

The local church dosnt look like the roof has any. So i might have to buy some lead Nitrate which will really annoy me.

I did have a small bit of lead and tried making lead nitrate, all the you tube vids show the solution as blue, mine was pretty colourless apart from a slight milky colour.

I refuse to buy lead so will keep hunting


I would think you could find old lead acid batteries to extract the lead from.

NEMO-Chemistry - 19-7-2016 at 17:41

Quote: Originally posted by wg48  
Quote: Originally posted by NEMO-Chemistry  
Quote: Originally posted by CRUSTY  
I couldn't find much on the use of stainless steel as a substrate, but this article says that "anodes of PbO2 electrodeposited onto a stainless steel substrate are strongly corroded in an acid medium." (pg. 2), but that was about all I could find.


Thanks, i didnt find much but i wasnt too sure what i was looking for.

I have found plating bath recipes from the utterly exotic to simply sticking lead in sulphuric acid and turning on the juice!

Lead is alot harder to get around here than i thought it would be, i went to the fishing tackle shop (i got a part time job there now!), and apparent lead weights for sea fishing are not lead!

I went to the scrap metal place around 30 miles away, they buy lead but wont sell it!

The local church dosnt look like the roof has any. So i might have to buy some lead Nitrate which will really annoy me.

I did have a small bit of lead and tried making lead nitrate, all the you tube vids show the solution as blue, mine was pretty colourless apart from a slight milky colour.

I refuse to buy lead so will keep hunting


I would think you could find old lead acid batteries to extract the lead from.


First i thought...most are gell type and not many batteries around here, they get taken to the council disposal site.

Then i found two in the back of the garage, no idea if they are gell or not, BUT the top posts are definitely lead!

I dont need much so taking the round posts off should give me plenty, thanks for the idea. It wouldnt have occurred to me TBH.

I go sea fishing, so i was stunned when i found out lead weights are not lead!! I wonder what they are made of??

hyfalcon - 19-7-2016 at 19:01

If you are going to electrodeposit PbO2 the substrate you need to use is MMO believe it or not! Mixed metal oxides of the Noble metals on a titanium substrate. Seems to work better than just plain titanium.

NEMO-Chemistry - 19-7-2016 at 19:33

Quote: Originally posted by hyfalcon  
If you are going to electrodeposit PbO2 the substrate you need to use is MMO believe it or not! Mixed metal oxides of the Noble metals on a titanium substrate. Seems to work better than just plain titanium. [/rquote
Shit i was going to use stainless steel! Or maybe carbon rods:(.

I need more research on this, so many conflicting recipes for doing this. Some seem to produce dense shiny results and some dont.

I keep wondering if lead with tin mixed in would work??

I might give MMO a go.

CRUSTY - 22-7-2016 at 16:46

Out of curiosity, why not use graphite for the electrode substrate? Stainless steel just seems like a hassle, although it's a bit easier to come by.

NEMO-Chemistry - 23-7-2016 at 10:56

Quote: Originally posted by CRUSTY  
Out of curiosity, why not use graphite for the electrode substrate? Stainless steel just seems like a hassle, although it's a bit easier to come by.


The reason behind stainless steel was mainly surface area, i figured i could have a fairly large plate, plus graphite seems to break up more.

I am still reading up on patents etc, from what i have seen on youtube the best ones end up with a black hard almost shiny appearance.

The best voltage for coating looks like 2.2V and 200mA, but i havnt seen any pourbix diagrams or anything. The voltage was gleaned from seeing what appeared to work best for others.

It also looks like the best method is to keep the plate moving to remove as many bubbles as you can.

I had wanted to get some coated this weekend, but i think i am going to need a little bit more lead than i have so far. The other odd thing is most of the lead nitrate solutions i have seen in the videos look blue.

According to wikipedia Lead nitrate is clear