Titanium Anode Mesh with MMO Ruthenium-Iridium Coating

[Johnk]

G'Day all, this would be my first post and its an enquiry.
Looking at buying an anode/cathode set suitable for perchlorate but was wanting to know if anyone has experience with the company providing.
It is a company selling through both Aliexpress, and Amazon. 
The company is from mainland China - TIBROMTACK.
Can anyone provide any feed back on this supplier?

Thanks,

Thanks

 

 

 

[Arthur]

I suspect that all MMO/lead dioxide electrodes originate in China, they do the dirty work that our factories want to avoid. Depending on where you live then ebay may have useful offerings. 

[mx5kevin]

The problem occurs when someone wants to produce perchlorates. Such electrodes may only be purchased from the manufacturer. Aliexpress, Amazon, Ebay, It is full of low quality and fake products. Platinized titanium anodes almost all of them are fakes, but which one is real with 5 micron platinum it won't last long. It's not even worth buying platinized titanium anodes.

If someone want platinum smaller costumer specific anodes are working, which must be prepared personally with a manufacturer who are specialized to this products.

See here:

I saw on Ebay that someone was selling PbO2 anodes what are made in his own garage. Should know that if PbO2 anodes are not prepared professionally, they will fall apart quickly. The mentioned electrode looks just like that in the picture.

There is a wide selection of MMO anodes. You really have to look at who sell it. Anyone who does not sell laboratory equipment or is a manufacturer, from those we should not buy such things from them. MMO anodes are only suitable for the production of chlorates, not for perchlorates.

Edited May 18 by mx5kevin

[Arthur]

I read a paper on the (late) Pepcon factory, they stated that the only viable perc anode was pure platinum used at around 5 thou thick, everything else rapidly perforated the surface by erosion and had to be replaced. 

One possible route is to use MMO electrodes to form sodium chlorate then use Pt electrodes to form perc, then to use KCl to precipitate KPerc and the liquor should go straight back to the MMO cell for reuse. Reputedly the erosion on the perc electrode is reduced three times if only used for the perc stage not al the way from chloride.

There are MMO electrode sets available on ebay (not in the USA!) and several tutorials on YT. This guy has been there for many years selling good stuff.

You could get a 40A MMO electrode pair and run them for a month in a big vessel, then transfer the liquid to a cell with lead dioxide electrode for a week or so to do the final stage. 

[mx5kevin]

100 micron thick platinum clad anode, which is durable. It is 3-4 mm thick and 70 mm long, which is affordable. It is an platinum electrode about the size of a wire nail. This can be used for both chlorate and perchlorate production. The base must be pure silver, or a niobium copper base. This can draw around 2 Amps at the beginning this will only decrease later. And working with maximum 1500ml cells. A cheap 6V 4A car battery charger fine for this. Of course, it works with more solutions, but the running time is unimaginably long. This is the only solution that you have to buy once and it lasts forever. The difference between the duration of production is so great that they cannot be combined with large electrodes. A 400ml NaClO4 cell takes 3-4 weeks to be ready from NaCl directly with this platinum anode.

A much more smaller 100mmx50 MMO can produce much more chlorate than the platinum. With this required the same sized PbO2 anode for perchlorate production. These can absorb much more amperes and produce much faster. Large electrodes require a suitable power supply. The solution should not be overheated with too much Amps. The other problem is that the larger the electrode, the are more amperes can pass through it. And this must remain below the maximum output of the power supply. For example, if you have an eight ampere circuit the current passing through the cell must remain below this. This can be regulated on the lab power supplies (1-30V 10A supplies are cheaper). You have to start with 3 volts for chlorates, and in perchlorates this can be maximum 7 volts. As the process progresses, the amperes passing through the cell will decrease. The lead dioxide anode withstands multiple uses, but it breaks down over time. 5 month total runtime the lifetime of such an PbO2 electrode can be calculating, as a benchmark.

Check this website archive file about PbO2 anodes. On Anodes/The Lead Dioxide (PbO2) Anode /Ti Substrate Lead Dioxide Anode /Ti-SnO2-Lead Dioxide Anode/ check this 3 links.

Detailed description of making and using Titanium/ATO/Lead Dioxide Anode (I)

Detailed description of making and using Titanium/ATO/Lead Dioxide Anode (II)

Detailed description of making and using Titanium/ATO/Lead Dioxide Anode (III)

The Chlorates and Perchlorates site in the net are a outdated copied version with important missing pages. These pages and important descriptions are missing from there. It provides important information about the lifetime of the electrodes and the conditions of use in a home environment.

 

 

5-10 micron platinized titanium anodes. On Ebay full of fake Titanium anodes which are not made of titanium. But the original electrodes, such a thin layer of platinum wears off very quickly. Youtube is full of videos that these electrodes are useless.