Preparative Electrosynthesis of Strong Oxidizers at Boron-Doped Diamond Electrode in Anhydrous HF

Chemistry. 2019 Apr 1;25(19):4927-4930. doi: 10.1002/chem.201806274. Epub 2019 Mar 5.

Abstract

The use of the boron-doped diamond electrode as a sufficiently stable electrode for electrochemical measurements/synthesis in liquid anhydrous hydrogen fluoride medium is reported. Electrooxidation of silver(I) has been studied in this solvent by using classical transient electrochemical methods and impedance spectroscopy. It has been found that faradaic currents related to silver(I) oxidation and the fluorine evolution reaction are reasonably separated at the potential scale, which allows efficient electrosynthesis of AgII F2 , a powerful oxidizer. Impedance spectroscopy measurements provide insight into complex mechanism of AgF2 formation. The procedure for electrosynthesis is provided for the first time in both galvanostatic and potentiostatic condition.

Keywords: boron; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; hydrogen fluorides; oxidizers; silver.