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mateo
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Silver anode for making sulfuric acid?
Hello,
I've recently started getting back into amateur chemistry, and I need some sulfuric acid. Since it's not obtainable anywhere near where I live or even
online, I figured I'm going to have to make some myself. I'm looking at the electrolysis method where a saturated solution of copper sulfate is
electrolysed with a copper cathode and an inert anode. The acid can then be filtered out to separate the copper metal, and then boiled to obtain
>50 % concentration.
Problem is, you can't use ANY metal/material for the anode. Platnium, lead dioxide and carbon are known to work (though the carbon will likely erode
into the solution). I know that gold is supposed to work as well, and if all else fails I might just use a gold plated wibut I'm here to ask if
anybody has tried using a silver anode? Silver won't react with the sulfuric acid. Perhaps one can minimize silver erosion (provided it does work) by
limiting the current and/or voltage?
Any ideas or comments would be helpful.
Regards,
- mateo
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Manifest
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Quote: Originally posted by mateo  | Hello,
I've recently started getting back into amateur chemistry, and I need some sulfuric acid. Since it's not obtainable anywhere near where I live or even
online, I figured I'm going to have to make some myself. I'm looking at the electrolysis method where a saturated solution of copper sulfate is
electrolysed with a copper cathode and an inert anode. The acid can then be filtered out to separate the copper metal, and then boiled to obtain
>50 % concentration.
Problem is, you can't use ANY metal/material for the anode. Platnium, lead dioxide and carbon are known to work (though the carbon will likely erode
into the solution). I know that gold is supposed to work as well, and if all else fails I might just use a gold plated wibut I'm here to ask if
anybody has tried using a silver anode? Silver won't react with the sulfuric acid. Perhaps one can minimize silver erosion (provided it does work) by
limiting the current and/or voltage?
Any ideas or comments would be helpful.
Regards,
- mateo |
This is my method of getting sulfuric acid.
Look at Nurdrages video on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dUSF9Gl0xE
You put a copper electrode on the negative terminal and connect a carbon electrode obtained from some batteries on the positive terminal.
Electrolyse the solution and leave it for 3 or so hours it will be all black. Filter this and you will have a clear solution of Sulfuric acid.
My only problem with this is that when I go to concentrate it inside in my garage I shit myself thinking of those acid fumes.
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mateo
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I've seen the video and I know how it is done, however I specifically want to avoid using a carbon electrode. I've done this before and there's much
hassle in separating the carbon particles from the acid. Using a high-quality inert anode would be more suitable, and therefore I am asking to see if
anyone has used silver for the anode, as it is cheap and readily available.
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Manifest
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| Quote: Originally posted by mateo | | I've seen the video and I know how it is done, however I specifically want to avoid using a carbon electrode. I've done this before and there's much
hassle in separating the carbon particles from the acid. Using a high-quality inert anode would be more suitable, and therefore I am asking to see if
anyone has used silver for the anode, as it is cheap and readily available. |
Yes. That would work however it would be more expensive and I don't see you getting a bunch of silver easily.
Of course the silver would corrode aswell but slowly.
What's so difficult about seperating them? You just filter the solution. It's worth going an extra step and filtering rather than using expensive
silver.
[Edited on 4-1-2013 by Manifest]
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elementcollector1
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I do in fact have a one-troy-oz. bar of silver, .999 fine. Could this method really work? It's got a fairly high surface area, and I can match that
with a copper PCB to make current flow easier... plus it would be oh-so-much better than a platinum one...
Is silver really resistant to sulfuric acid? Or would it form a precipitate of silver sulfate, analogous to lead?
Elements Collected:52/87
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Manifest
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| Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1 | I do in fact have a one-troy-oz. bar of silver, .999 fine. Could this method really work? It's got a fairly high surface area, and I can match that
with a copper PCB to make current flow easier... plus it would be oh-so-much better than a platinum one...
Is silver really resistant to sulfuric acid? Or would it form a precipitate of silver sulfate, analogous to lead? |
No it would not form silver sulfate since copper is more reactive than silver.
It would still corrode and stay in solution though, but not react.
However silver reacts with hot concentrated sulfuric acid.
Using this method, dilute acid is formed.
[Edited on 4-1-2013 by Manifest]
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mateo
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| Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1 | I do in fact have a one-troy-oz. bar of silver, .999 fine. Could this method really work? It's got a fairly high surface area, and I can match that
with a copper PCB to make current flow easier... plus it would be oh-so-much better than a platinum one...
Is silver really resistant to sulfuric acid? Or would it form a precipitate of silver sulfate, analogous to lead? |
That is what I was thinking. A one ounce silver bar isn't expensive and it's really easy to come by. I'm thinking of using one for an anode.
For what I know, silver by itself does not react with sulfuric acid, nor does it react with hydrochloric acid. Silver at standard conditions will only
react with nitric acid, which is irrelevant in this case anyway. However, I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined
influence of the acid AND the electric current...
[Edited on 4-1-2013 by mateo]
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Manifest
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| Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined influence of the acid AND the electric current...
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Like I said above. It will corrode slowly but not react at all.
I'm not sure how much it will corrode.
Test it and see.
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mateo
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| Quote: Originally posted by Manifest | | Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined influence of the acid AND the electric current...
|
Like I said above. It will corrode slowly but not react at all.
I'm not sure how much it will corrode.
Test it and see. |
Probably, yes. I'm try with a gold-plated anode as well and see how well that works. I will update you all on this topic once I've had time to try out
some electrodes.
My approach for now will be using a silver bar for the anode, and reducing erosion of the bar by electrolysing with the lowest possible current.
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D-glucose
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I've actually tried this, and the results weren't great as i didn't let it finish. But it worked, the solution was clearing and the silver anode was
corroding with black silver oxide, but it could be scraped off. The copper was depositing quite well on the copper cathode. I won't try this again
because I'll find sulphuric acid elsewhere. BTW i was using a 9 volt battery as my power supply 
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elementcollector1
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| Quote: Originally posted by mateo | | Quote: Originally posted by Manifest | | Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined influence of the acid AND the electric current...
|
Like I said above. It will corrode slowly but not react at all.
I'm not sure how much it will corrode.
Test it and see. |
Probably, yes. I'm try with a gold-plated anode as well and see how well that works. I will update you all on this topic once I've had time to try out
some electrodes.
My approach for now will be using a silver bar for the anode, and reducing erosion of the bar by electrolysing with the lowest possible current.
|
Current basically equates to electrolysis speed...
Grab some popcorn and settle down. 
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Manifest
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| Quote: Originally posted by mateo | | Quote: Originally posted by Manifest | | Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined influence of the acid AND the electric current...
|
Like I said above. It will corrode slowly but not react at all.
I'm not sure how much it will corrode.
Test it and see. |
Probably, yes. I'm try with a gold-plated anode as well and see how well that works. I will update you all on this topic once I've had time to try out
some electrodes.
My approach for now will be using a silver bar for the anode, and reducing erosion of the bar by electrolysing with the lowest possible current.
|
I had previously tried this with a gold plated earring.
It obviously wasn't plated very well as it corroded in the inside.
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mateo
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| Quote: Originally posted by elementcollector1 | | Quote: Originally posted by mateo | | Quote: Originally posted by Manifest | | Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
I'm not sure of what will happen with the silver under the combined influence of the acid AND the electric current...
|
Like I said above. It will corrode slowly but not react at all.
I'm not sure how much it will corrode.
Test it and see. |
Probably, yes. I'm try with a gold-plated anode as well and see how well that works. I will update you all on this topic once I've had time to try out
some electrodes.
My approach for now will be using a silver bar for the anode, and reducing erosion of the bar by electrolysing with the lowest possible current.
|
Current basically equates to electrolysis speed...
Grab some popcorn and settle down. |
Yeah, that's the con of it. Limiting the current probably makes the anode erode les, but then it'll take much more time. But hey, the good things in
life are the things worth waiting for, they say... 
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virgilius1979
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Silver is not that cheap to loose it this way. Better react it with HNO3.
I have produced some H2SO4 with PbO2 anode and it was a pale yellow solution (about 15% concentration). After boiling, I got about 250ml concentrated
(90%) H2SO4 (from 1kg of CuSO4.5H2O), but it was a bit darker. The impurities could come from the CuSO4.5H2O or from the PbO2 anode itself; so it
looks similar to drain opener. I'm going to distillate it to concentrate and purify.
The PbO2 anode I have it from China (I bought 15 of them ) and I want to try
them for perchlorates too. From the thread dedicated to making such an anode I deduced it's not worth the effort. Platinum is too expensive (by the
way, chinese were making custom electrodes, coated with many types of metals, I wanted to buy a Pt one, but at $300 a piece I decided it's too much).
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Manifest
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Jesus, am I missing something here?
What is so hard about filtering the solution after using a carbon electrode.
The filter paper doesn't clog up or nothing.
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elementcollector1
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Carbon tends to dissolve somehow in H2SO4...
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cyanureeves
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a silver anode hooked to a 9volt battery in hydrochloric acid with dissolve into milk and sand within seconds. i have done this when i was trying to
make silver chloride half a troy ounce and a couiple of years ago.used battery acid from a junk yard is the way to go then boiling it down in a
backyard about three houses down from yours because it will fume like mad.some people probably aint back from the holidays yet.
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Manifest
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No, it doesn't dissolve as such. Carbon doesn't react with Sulfuric acid.
It just sits in the solution, you can just filter it out.
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mateo
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| Quote: Originally posted by Manifest |
No, it doesn't dissolve as such. Carbon doesn't react with Sulfuric acid.
It just sits in the solution, you can just filter it out. |
You are correct, however usually I get these tiny nanoparticles of coal that gives the solution a dull color. These are very hard for me to remove
from the acid.
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plante1999
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When the acid is boiling hot, add 1 to 3 ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide. It used to do the trick when I was making my acid myself from copper sulfate.
Now I have better processes... The acid will become water clear in a few seconds after the peroxide addition.
[Edited on 5-1-2013 by plante1999]
I never asked for this.
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mateo
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| Quote: Originally posted by plante1999 | When the acid is boiling hot, add 1 to 3 ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide. It used to do the trick when I was making my acid myself from copper sulfate.
Now I have better processes... The acid will become water clear in a few seconds after the peroxide addition.
[Edited on 5-1-2013 by plante1999] |
You are welcome to share any processes you consider superior to the electrolysis of copper sulfate. Thanks for the tip, by the way!
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plante1999
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| Quote: Originally posted by mateo |
You are welcome to share any processes you consider superior to the electrolysis of copper sulfate. Thanks for the tip, by the way!
|
Well, I was referring to my pdf: Lab scale industrial processes which can be found on my website or in the prepublication part of this forum.
I never asked for this.
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chloric1
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| Quote: Originally posted by D-glucose | | I've actually tried this, and the results weren't great as i didn't let it finish. But it worked, the solution was clearing and the silver anode was
corroding with black silver oxide, but it could be scraped off. The copper was depositing quite well on the copper cathode. I won't try this again
because I'll find sulphuric acid elsewhere. BTW i was using a 9 volt battery as my power supply |
I like the idea of silver oxide from silver electrolytically. Maybe a silver anode and stainless cathode with dilute potassium hydroxide as an
electrolyte. Silver oxide with nitric acid and ready for other silver salts
Fellow molecular manipulator
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Sulaiman
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A silver anode will dissolve in distilled water
(that's how I made colloidal silver)
It is very slow due to the high electrolyte resistance,
but almost any soluble substance will decrease electrolyte resistivity.
(salts, acids, bases etc.)
ie, I doubt that silver is useful as an anode.
Sulphuric acid, when dilute, hot or cold,
or when cold and concentrated,
does not dissolve carbon,
but when hot and concentrated it does.
Adding small quantities of H2O2 is very efficient,
even with dilute acid.
[Edited on 30-6-2024 by Sulaiman]
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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clearly_not_atara
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There seems to be some work about SnO2-coated titanium as an oxygen-evolution anode in sulfuric acid media. This usually involves some antimony doping
as well, though I'm not sure if that's required or just used to boost the current efficiency. SnO2 should be insoluble in sulfuric acid IIRC, so if
your goal is to avoid working with lead it seems like an interesting option.
There is also a paper about copper-doped tin dioxide on titanium anodes:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1606.06332
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