Abstract

MICKOVA, Irena; ABDURAUF, Prusi; GRCEV, Toma  and  ARSOV, Ljubomir. Active/passive transition of niobium in strong acid and alkaline solutions . Port. Electrochim. Acta [online]. 2006, vol.24, n.3, pp.377-385. ISSN 0872-1904.

By cyclic voltammetry the active/passive transition of Nb electrode has been investigated in concentration range from 0.1 M to 10 M aqueous solutions of H₂SO₄ and KOH. Results indicate the strong influence of the concentration and electrolyte nature to the active/passive transitions and stability of passive films. Depending on electrolyte concentrations, at potential of 1 V the calculated thickness of passive films varied from 2.2 nm to 3.2 nm. For the same concentrations of H₂SO₄ and KOH the formed passive films in KOH are thicker than in H₂SO₄. By multiple cycle sequences in which the final anodic potential is gradually enlarged, the barrier properties of passive films on Nb electrode were confirmed. In the first positive scan after the active/passive transition, no cathodic or reactivation peaks for both 1 M H₂SO₄ and KOH were observed. Only for higher concentrations of KOH (> 2 M) the small reactivation process was recorded. In concentration of 5 M and 10 M KOH, if after the passive film formation the Nb electrodes were maintained for 15 min at cathodic potential of -1.55 (SHE), the cyclic voltammograms indicated  the complete dissolution of passive films. The voltammetric data have confirmed that the Nb electrode is more resistant in concentrated H₂SO₄ than in concentrated KOH solutions.

Keywords : niobium; passivity; cyclic voltammetry; reactivation.

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