Probing into the effects of a magnetic field on the electrode processes of iron in sulphuric acid solutions with dichromate based on the fundamental electrochemistry kinetics

The effects of an applied magnetic field on the electrode processes of iron in sulphuric acid solutions with dichromate have been investigated by electrochemical measurements. Open circuit potentials, cathodic and anodic polarisation curves, values of polarisation resistance were measured in the presence or absence of a 0.4 T horizontal magnetic field (HMF). A potentiostatic polarisation plus magnetic field perturbation technique was used to study the effect of the magnetic field on open circuit corrosion. Cathodic reaction rates at open circuit potentials for iron in sulphuric acid solutions containing dichromate ions are controlled by both the electron-transfer process and the diffusion process. A magnetic field made the open circuit potential move in the positive direction, and changes of the open circuit potentials due to the magnetic field increase with increasing dichromate concentration. When iron was potentiostatically polarised at open circuit potentials in the absence of a magnetic field, a cathodic current was observed after a magnetic field was imposed. Such cathodic currents induced by the magnetic field increases with increasing dichromate concentration. The positive shifts of open circuit potential, the decrease of polarisation resistance, and the occurrence of cathodic currents induced by the magnetic field are caused by the accelerating effect of magnetic field on the cathodic diffusion process. Measured current densities showed lower, equal, or higher values in the presence of the magnetic field than those in the absence of a magnetic field at certain anodic potentials. This effect of the magnetic field is related to the contribution of the cathodic and anodic reactions to the measured current and the types of rate-determining steps for each reaction at certain potentials. The applied magnetic field significantly decreased the polarisation resistance. The experimental results in this paper are formulated based on the fundamental electrochemistry kinetics after introducing a coefficient term of the magnetic field effect on the mass transfer process of reactive ions.