Thermodynamics of Ag CL H, O, Ag BR H, O
Thermodynamics of Ag CL H, O, Ag BR H, O
Thermodynamics of Ag CL H, O, Ag BR H, O
JEC 02851
Abstract
The thermodynamics of silver-halide-water systems are summarized in the form of potential-pH and activity-pH diagrams,
calculated from recently published standard Gibbs energies of formation of the various species and phases considered.
Stabilities and hence solubilities of Ag(I) halide species are predicted to increase in the order Cl < Br < I, which is reflected in
the corresponding potential-pH diagrams by a decreasing potential for the AgXk)/Ag and AgXy-“-/Ag couples, and a
transition from solid phase to solution complex predominance with increasing free halide activities.
TABLE 1. Gibbs free energies of formation of species in silver- (1100, and should be written as Ag,O,. The existence
halide-water systems at 298 K [27]
of equilibria between Ag(OH& and Ag,O and AgO
Species AGF/kJ mol-’ Species AGF/kJ mol-’ has been established experimentally [44].
&+ 77.16 &Cl(c) - 109.86 Though Fig. 1 predicts that it is capable of oxidizing
Ag*+ 269.16 &C&q) - 54.16 water, AgO is relatively stable both when dry and in
AgO+ 225.63 A&I; - 215.88 alkaline solution. An in situ Raman spectroelectro-
AgO- - 22.98 A&I:- - 345.97
chemical study [45] of the anodic films formed on silver
Ag,O(c) - 11.22 AgCl:- - 478.46
Ag202k) 27.63 AgBrk) -95 at pH 13 showed that AgO was the silver oxide formed.
AdOH); - 260.37 AgBr(aq) - 26.87 Though oxidation peaks in the cyclic voltammogram
AgOH - 80.21 AgBr; - 172.46 were attributed to Ag,O formation [45,47-511, Raman
Ago(c) 14.65 AgBri- - 284.65 spectroscopy did not detect that phase, owing to
Ag,O,k) 121.39 AgBrd- - 387.67
photo-oxidation by the 488 nm laser light:
Ago,(c) - 10.99 AgIk) - 66.22
AgH(g) 2486.11 AgI(aq) 25.53 Ag,O + H,O + 2h+ 2 2AgO + 2H+ (I)
H2O - 237.178 AgI; - 87.07
OH- - 157.293 A& - 154.04 The AgO proved to be stable at an applied potential of
cl- - 131.0563 A& - 209.72 -70 mV, over 300 mV lower than that predicted for
Br- - 103.97 AgBrC$ - 465.6 the reduction of Ag,O:
I- - 51.67 AgBr,CI”- - 420.0
Ag,O + 2H++ 2e- F 2Ag + H,O (2)
Examination of the Ag/Ag,O couple at pH 13 [52]
more recent publication [30], though Fig. 1 is similar in showed the initial formation of a monolayer of AgOH,
form to other published diagrams for the silver-water followed by fast dissolution of Ag(OH); ions:
system [l&31,32].
AgOH + H,O = Ag(OH), + H+ (3)
Although AgO, is present in the data set used, no
discussion concerning its properties is presented; other preceding Ag,O phase formation on the electrode.
commonly used data sources [29,33] do not contain that Silver has been found to form two distinct oxidized
phase and other publications [l&29-32,34-36] do not monolayers in alkaline solution [53]; both are formed
consider its presence. The standard reference texts at an underpotential to the Ag/Ag,O couple and were
[37-391 for inorganic chemistry do not contain any attributed to AgOH and Ag,O. In acidic solution the
information on Ago,, though it is likely to be silver(I) passivating layer of Ag,O was not formed [541.
superoxide. In view of the dearth of information about The more recent diagram [30] does not consider
this phase, AgO, has not been considered in the AgO, Ag(OH); or AgOH within the calculation; how-
calculation of the halide diagrams presented below, but ever, AgO; ions are included. Despite these differ-
is included on the silver-water diagram. ences the diagrams are similar in appearance and the
It has been suggested [40-431, and confirmed by species AgO/Ag,O, and AgO-/Ag(OH& can be
neutron diffraction [38], that AgO exists as Ag(I).Ag considered equivalent.
Ag2+ ions are known to be very powerful oxidants,
oxidizing Mn2+ to MnO; [55], and are used for analyt-
2.4 , ical determinations of vanadium, chromium, man-
I
ganese and cerium in acid solution [561. The standard
potential of the Ag+/Ag2+ couple is well above the
oxidation potential for water; the mechanism of water
oxidation by Ag2+ has been determined in nitric(V)
acid media [57], the overall reaction being
4Ag2+ + 2H,O = 4Ag++ 0, + 4H+ (4)
Oxidation of 1 km01 Ag(1) in 4 km01 nitric(V) acid me3
at 2.1 V vs. SHE on platinum produced tetranitratoar-
gentate(I1) ions [58], which have been used to oxidize
waste organic materials in the “silver bullet” process
O-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 [591.
PH
Fig. 1. Potential-pH diagram for a silver-water system at 298.15 K:
2.2. Silver-halide-water systems
- aAg = 10m4, _ _ _ _ _ _ aAg = lo-*, . . . . . aAg= lo-‘, Ago, Silver is found to occur in nature as halides; these
present. are formed by secondary processes such as oxidative
NJ. Welham et al. / Thermodynamics of silver-halide-water systems 41
Name Composition
Chlorargyrite AgCl
Bromargyrite AgBr
Iodargyrite AgI
Embolite Ag(Cl,Br)
Iodembolite Ag(CI,Br,I)
Table 2. PH
There is some evidence of dissolved silver(I) species, Fig. 2. Potential-pH diagram for a silver-chloride-water system at
298.15 K for aAg = 10m4: - ac,-=l,------ao-=2.Chloride
primarily tetrahaloargentate(I), which have mixed lig-
treated as electro-inactive.
ands; thermodynamic data have been presented for
tribromomonochloroargentate(1) and monobromotri-
chloroargentate(1) [27,33] from which the standard po- Increasing the chloride activity to 2, corresponding
tentials of formation can be calculated: to the dashed equilibrium lines in Fig. 2, is predicted to
AgBr,C13-+ e- e Ag + Cl-+ 3Br- (5) cause dissolution of solid silver chloride as tetra-
chloroargentate(1) ions, which could have significant
Es/V = 0.2380 + 0.1775 log(Br-) + 0.0592 log(Cl-)
implications for envisaged processes coupling leaching
- 0.0592 log(AgBr,C13-) to electrowinning in three-dimensional electrodes [51:
ill ,_i . /j
grams containing mixed halide complexes.
The values of the stability constants for the mixed
complexes can be calculated using the technique of
Wang [62], giving new diagrams. However, the calcu-
2
lated Gibbs energy values for the two complexes were . A& /
not sufficiently close to experimentally determined G -6 AgCl;
thermochemical data [27] to warrant inclusion of these AgCl:-
species within the silver-halide-water diagrams. 2? -8.
AF’ &Cl (4 Ag3H
2.3. Silver-chloride-water systems
Comparison of the silver-chloride-water potential- -lo-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
pH diagram shown in Fig. 2, with a previously pub-
PI-I
lished diagram [32] shows a similarly large area of Fig. 3. Silver(I) activity-pH diagram for a silver-chloride-water
predominance for AgCl(c), which has also been pre- system in equilibrium with AgCl(c) at 298.15 K for a,,- = 1; chloride
dicted to form at 200°C [631. treated as electro-inactive.
42 N.J. Welham et al. / Thermodynamics of silver-halide-water systems
Ag + nCl- - AgCl(“-‘)-
n + e- (8) Ag(OH), + Br-+ 2H + ti AgBr(c) + 2H,O (11)
The solubility of silver chloride has been reported [67] The formation of AgBr on a silver anode [72] has been
to increase with chloride activity. Increasing the tem- found to occur by a fast electron transfer step, the film
perature from 10 to 100°C increased the solubility formed by lateral spreading from nucleation sites de-
from 3.7 to 13 mol rnp3 (400 to 1400 g me3) at pH 0.5 creasing the rate of further AgBr formation to that
in 3.2 km01 FeCl, rnp3; the thermodynamically pre- limited by diffusion of Br- ions through pores.
dicted solubility at 25°C is 2 mol me3 (220 g mp3) The silver(I) activity-pH diagram for silver in unity
which is half that found at 10°C. Low pH was found to bromide activity, shown in Fig. 7, predicts that dis-
enhance the solubility, as was the presence of NaCl solved silver(I) activities are constrained to 10e3.” by
and FeCl,. In 0.5 km01 FeCl, me3 at pH 0.5, the the formation of AgBr(c) in equilibrium with
solubility of AgCl was less than 1 mol rnp3 (less than AgBr’“-,) ‘)- ions.
100 g rnp3) until the NaCl concentration was increased
above approximately 1 km01 rnp3, at which tetra- 2.5, Silver-iodide-water systems
chloroargentate(1) ions are predicted to begin to pre- Comparison of Fig. 1 with the corresponding dia-
dominate. gram for the silver-iodide-water system at unity iodide
N.J. Welham et al. / Thermodynamics of’siluer-halide-water systems 43
01
1
-2 I AgBr$
AgBr Cc>
‘;;j AgBr%
% 0.6 - i I
58 0.2
0.4 - Ag(OH); --i
r___________________-______~~
4 0
E -0.2 - AgBr,
8 -0.4 - Ag
’ -‘52 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
PH -lo-2 1 1 2 4 8 10 12 I 14 16
Fig. 5. Potential-pH diagram for a silver-bromide-water system at
p6H
298.15 K for aAg = 10m4: ~ aBr- = 1, - - - - - - aBr- = 0.1. Bro-
Fig. 7. Silver(l) activity-pH diagram for a silver-bromide-water
mide treated as electro-inactive.
system in equilibrium with AgBl(c) at 298.15 K for anr- = 1; bromide
treated as electro-inactive.
2
AgBr ;
AgBr ‘3. 1.8 I ., 1
/ > 1.61
AgBr 3/4 iii 1.4 -
8 1.2-
? 1-
0.8 -
;;i
% 0.6 - (-- -)AgI (c)
ti 0.4 -
5a 0.2 -
PH
Fig. 6. Bromide activity-pH diagram for a silver-bromide-water Fig. 8. Potential-pH diagram for a silver-iodide-water system at
system in equilibrium with AgBr(c) at 298.15 K for aAg = 10e4; 298.15 K for aAg = 10m4: ~ a,- = 1, - - - - - - a,-= 0.1; iodide
bromide treated as electro-inactive. treated as electro-inactive.
44 NJ. Welham et al. / Thermodynamics of silver-halide-water
systems
A@ (cl
-2
f? AgI:-
. I I
A&
Ag(OH);
:
~o~~~i 8 10 12 14 16
-lo-2 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 I 161 PH
Fig. 11. Total silver(I) activity-pH diagram for silver-halide-water
PH systems in equilibrium with AgX(c1 at 298.15 K for ax- = 0.1, 1 and
Fig. 9. Silver(I) activity-pH diagram for a silver-iodide-water system 5: - chloride, - - - - - - bromide, - - - iodide. Halide treated
in equilibrium with AgI(c) at 298.15 K for a,- = 1; iodide treated as as electro-inactive.
electro-inactive.
A& Acknowledgement
AgI ;-
/
/ The authors thank Billiton Research BV, Arnhem,
F -2 AgI “4. The Netherlands for the provision of a studentship for
E N.J.W.
-g -4
. AgI (c) References
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46 NJ. Welham et al. / Thermodynamics of siluer-halide-water systems
Ag,O + 3H,O e 2Ag(OH), + 2H+ Ag,O, + 2Cl-+ 6H++ 4eP e 2AgCl-t 3H,O
(A2)
log(Ag(OH),) = -35.39 + 2pH (A15)
EAIJV = 2.0483 - 0.0296 log(Cl-) + 0.0887pH
EA3/V = 1.526 + 0.0592 log(Ag2+) + 0.1776pH E/,&V = 1.9210 - 0.1183 log(Cl-) + 0.0887pH
+ 0.0296 log(AgI;-)
Silver-iodide-water systems
Chemical reaction