ac electrolysis

[plumber]

The general thought is that electrolysis cannot be accomplished with ac current, for many reasons...BUT! And here is my question; all the reasons for it not being possible, pertain to the transference of ions through an electrolyte. What if the aim wasn't gas liberation or a permanent transfer of ions and metal to the other electrode? What if the aim was to saturate the electrolyte with metal ions? Would some one ponder this for me and give me some feed back? Would or could the alternating current actually dump more positive metal ions into the electrolyte (distilled water) rather than depositing metal on the negative electrode? resulting in a colloid of suspended metal particles? Please be gentle. I am just a plumber.

[UncleAl]

Zero net result AC electrolysis assumes a reversible (at least over the cycle time) electrode process. Cyclic voltammetry does exactly that. By looking at the cycle, current vs. voltage over varying frequency, you can derive chemistry and kinetics. There is no reason it has to be reversible, certainly if additional reaction or physical change (washing away of product) occurs before the cycle can reverse. Buzzing electrodes can get spalling. it is generally easier to draw a short arc and let solvent quench to particulates.

AC electrolysis with a DC bias is commercial. It anneals the deposit as it deposits. Electroluminescent panels are high frequency AC electrolysis. A neutral organic molecule is pumped up with an electron or ripped off for an electron on closely adjacent interdigtated electrode arrays. When the two mix you get back two neutral molecules plus light for their cation-anion LUMO-HOMO energy difference.

That looked like a high efficiency laser but, by the book, two-level lasers are crappy. Nobody has been able to get the thing to lase, either as adjacent electrodes or separate mixed solutions.

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Uncle Al
UNDER SATAN'S LEFT FOOT
Vote a 10 for doing the experiments!

[plumber]

Thanks uncle Al, judging by your response, I probably sounded more intelligent than I actually am! Now I will have to look up all the terms you used. But I am learning. I am actually side stepping the description of what I am trying to figure out, due to controversy. I want to saturate distilled water with very small nanoparticles of metal...before they agglomerate into clusters. More actual metal particles and less ions...not to mention I am not clear on the difference of the two

[UncleAl]

Colloidal silver will get you argyria. Magnetic colloids are made by the kilo in lapidary drums (magnetite plus oleic acid; grinding media) or by chemical synthesis,

J. Chem. Ed. 56(10) 693 (1979)
J. Chem. Ed. 76(7) 943 (1999)

Strike an arc between the desired metal electrodes under water (remember the exteral ballast resistor). If the metal is reactive with water it won't stick around when finely divided.

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Uncle Al
UNDER SATAN'S LEFT FOOT
Vote a 10 for doing the experiments!