Kinetic peculiarities of anodic dissolution of silver and Ag–Au alloys under the conditions of oxide formation

The kinetics of anodic dissolution of silver and Ag–Au alloys (XAu = 0.1–30 at.% Au) in aqueous alkaline solution under the conditions of the formation of silver oxides has been examined. The techniques of cyclic voltammetry, chronoammetry, and photopotential measurements have been used. It was established that the anodic formation and cathodic reduction of Ag2O on silver and alloys are controlled by migration in the oxide layer. Ag2O oxide is an n-type semiconductor with an excess of silver atoms. Oxide layers formed on monocrystalline Ag(1 1 1) and Ag(1 1 0) are more stoichiometric than the layer formed on polycrystalline Ag.