Iron Formation in Gold and Palladium Cathodes

Investigation of some reaction products possibly produced by electrolyzing with Au and Pd electrodes in Na2SO4, K2CO3, and KOH light water solutions was made. The electrolysis was performed for 7 days with a constant current of 1 A. After the electrolysis the elements accumulated in the electrode were analyzed by means of AES. In every case a notable amount of Fe atoms were detected together with a certain amount of excess energy evolution, being in the range of 9 x 10 to 1.8 x 10 atoms/cm for Au and of 1.2 x 10 to 4.0 x 10 atoms/cm for Pd. The isotopic abundance of these Fe atoms was measured by means of SIMS, which was 6.5, 77.5, and 14.5% for Fe, Fe and Fe, respectively, at the top surface of Au electrode, obviously different from the natural values. For Pd electrode, a considerable increase in the contents of Fe and Fe was observed.