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Cathodic Reduction of Zinc Oxide in Alkaline Electrolyte

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Abstract

The reduction of zinc oxide in a limited volume of the alkaline electrolyte is studied. Methods of chronopotentiometry, chronoamperometry, and chronovoltammetry showed the recovery of zinc oxide in a minimum volume of electrolyte to be a complex process, not obeying the mathematical dependences for the limiting stages of electrochemical processes known in literature. A mathematical model of the zinc-oxide layer recovery in terms of the minimum amount of alkaline electrolyte is suggested. The model takes into account the zincate- and hydroxyl-ion transport in the alkaline electrolyte, the zinc oxide dissolution, and changes of structural characteristics in the surface oxide layer. The reduction of zinc oxide in a limited volume of alkaline electrolyte is shown to be largely determined by the rate of the chemical reaction of zinc oxide dissolution. The applicability of the revealed regularities of the zinc oxide reduction in zincate solutions to the describing of the zinc electrode charging process in alkaline power sources is demonstrated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alekseev State Technical University at Nizhny Novgorod, Institute of Physical and Chemical Technologies and Materials Science, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    Yu. L. Gunko, V. A. Kozyrin, O. L. Kozina, E. Yu. Ananieva & M. G. Mikhalenko

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  1. Yu. L. Gunko
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  2. V. A. Kozyrin
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  3. O. L. Kozina
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  4. E. Yu. Ananieva
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  5. M. G. Mikhalenko
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Correspondence to Yu. L. Gunko or E. Yu. Ananieva.

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Translated by Yu. Pleskov

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Gunko, Y.L., Kozyrin, V.A., Kozina, O.L. et al. Cathodic Reduction of Zinc Oxide in Alkaline Electrolyte. Russ J Electrochem 58, 60–73 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1023193522010050

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1023193522010050

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