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Electrochemical behavior of gallium electrodeposition and inhibition of hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline electrolyte

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Abstract

The gallium electrowinning process is always accompanied by hydrogen evolution reaction that results in low current efficiency (CE). In this manuscript, cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry studies were carried out to investigate the gallium cathode behavior under various conditions and explore the parameter that is beneficial to improve the CE. The CE of the lead and copper cathodes was higher, while gallium deposited on the titanium, SUS316, and SUS304 cathodes was readily separated. Increasing the overpotential and gallium concentration or decreasing the pH within a certain range was all beneficial to improve the CE, while the temperature had no significant effect on the CE. Kinetic studies of gallium electrodeposition were carried out. The gallium electrodeposition process was determined as mixed control and forced convection is expected to further improve the CE. The apparent activation energy and kinetic current from the electrochemical reactions were determined to be 23.335 kJ mol−1 and 47.6 mA, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52074363, 52104355, 51922108, and U20A20273), National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2019YFC1907402).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Zuowei Liu, Xueyi Guo, Qinghua Tian & Zhipeng Xu

  2. Cleaner Metallurgical Engineering Research Center, China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xueyi Guo, Qinghua Tian & Zhipeng Xu

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  1. Zuowei Liu
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  2. Xueyi Guo
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  3. Qinghua Tian
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Contributions

ZL carried out experiments. ZL and XG wrote the main manuscript text. XG, QT, and ZX provided the experimental plan. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Qinghua Tian or Zhipeng Xu.

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Liu, Z., Guo, X., Tian, Q. et al. Electrochemical behavior of gallium electrodeposition and inhibition of hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline electrolyte. J Appl Electrochem 53, 847–860 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-022-01825-4

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