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In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction.Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources such as ores using an electrolytic cell.
Electrolysis is usually done in bulk using hundreds of sheets of metal connected to an electric power source. In the production of copper, these pure sheets of copper are used as starter material for the cathodes, and are then lowered into a solution such as copper sulfate with the large anodes that are cast from impure (97% pure) copper.
The electrolysis can be done on a molten metal oxide (smelt electrolysis) which is used for example to produce aluminium from aluminium oxide via the Hall-Hérault process. Electrolysis can be used as a final refining stage in pyrometallurgical metal production (electrorefining) and it is also used for reduction of a metal from an aqueous metal ...
In cells using Söderberg or self-baking anodes, there is a single anode per electrolysis cell. The anode is contained within a frame and, as the bottom of the anode turns mainly into CO 2 during the electrolysis, the anode loses mass and, being amorphous, it slowly sinks within its frame. More material to the top of the anode is continuously ...
The question is how to convert highly impure metal ores into purified bulk metals. A vast array of operations have been developed to accomplish those tasks, one of which is electrowinning. In an ideal case, ore is extracted into a solution which is then subjected to electrolysis. The metal is deposited on the cathode. In a practical sense, this ...
Cs > K > Na > Li > alkaline earth metals, i.e., alkali metals > alkaline earth metals, the same as the reverse order of the (gas-phase) ionization energies. This is borne out by the extraction of metallic lithium by the electrolysis of a eutectic mixture of lithium chloride and potassium chloride: lithium metal is formed at the cathode, not ...
Anodization – a process that converts the surface of a metal into a durable corrosion-resistant oxide layer; Conductive polymers – organic polymers that conduct electricity; Water electrolysis – a process that uses an electric current to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gases
Diagram of Castner process apparatus. The Castner process is a process for manufacturing sodium metal by electrolysis of molten sodium hydroxide at approximately 330 °C. Below that temperature, the melt would solidify; above that temperature, the molten sodium would start to dissolve in the melt.