Electrochemical behavior and electrowinning of palladium in nitric acid media

In this study, the electrochemical behavior of Pd(II) in nitric acid media was investigated using various electrochemical techniques. By analyzing the cyclic voltammogram of Pd(II) recorded at Pt electrode, a series of electrochemical reactions associated with palladium were recognized, indicating that Pd(II) undergoes a single step two-electrons irreversible process. Electroreduction reaction of Pd(II) and auto-catalytic reactions of nitrous acid are supposed to play a leading role in low and high concentrations of nitric acid, respectively. Stirring could facilitate the reduction of Pd(II) in relatively low nitric acid concentration (⩽ 3 mol/L). The value of charge transfer coefficient was determined to be 0.18 for the measurements at 298 K. The diffusion coefficient of Pd(II) increased from 1.89 × 10−8 cm2/s at 288 K to 4.23 × 10−8 cm2/s at 318 K, and the activation energy was calculated to be 21.5 kJ/mol. In electrowinning experiments, SEM images of palladium obtained by electrolysis reveal the dendrite growth in all cases, which is uniform all over the entire surface of Pt electrode. The recovery ratios of Pd at different nitric acid concentrations are high, and the faradic efficiency of electrolysis decreases with increasing the nitric acid concentration. When stirring was introduced during electrolysis, the electrodeposition rate of Pd increased substantially.