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Zinc Electrodes and the Thermodynamics of a Galvanic Cell

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Donald A. Probst and Giles Henderson

Department of Chemistry, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920

J. Chem. Educ., 1996, 73 (10), p 962

DOI: 10.1021/ed073p962

Publication Date (Web): October 1, 1996

Abstract

Although zinc is commonly employed as an electrode in laboratory studies of galvanic cells, we find that under ambient conditions, this electrode may be poisoned by a surface coating on zinc hydroxide. The formation of a strongly adhering, non conducting surface film impedes current flow and causes measured cell potentials to ramp downward with time. Thermodynamic calculations and laboratory experiments confirm that this difficulty can be completely eliminated by buffering the anode electrolyte at pH = 4.0.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Physical Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Zinc

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Energetics of a Zinc−Sulfur Fuel Cell
Tatyana A. Bendikov, Chaim Yarnitzky, and Stuart Licht
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B2002 106 (11), 2989-2995
- Energetics of a Zinc−Sulfur Fuel Cell
  Tatyana A. Bendikov, Chaim Yarnitzky, and Stuart Licht
  The Journal of Physical Chemistry B2002 106 (11), 2989-2995
  Energetics of a novel zincsulfur charge storage (generalized as Zn + S ZnS) is explored to access the high (>1000 Ah/kg) charge capacity of sulfur. At 25 C, the theoretical energy density of the complete Zn/S system is a high 572 Wh/kg, at E = 1.04 ...
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