Kinetics of Active Anodic Dissolution of Copper in Bicarbonate Media

The behavior of copper in the active state during the anodic polarization in bicarbonate media is studied. It is shown that the anodic ionization of copper represents a two-stage process with univalent copper as the intermediate. The presence of the latter was confirmed by the RRDE method. The diffusion of bivalent copper is the rate-determining stage, and the equilibrium between copper and its bivalent ions is the potential-determining reaction. It is shown that the conventional method of preparation of bicarbonate solutions for experiments is inadequate; hence, the corresponding conclusions that had formerly been drawn on the oxidation of copper to univalent state are incorrect.