Electrochemical behaviour of selenite ions in tartaric electrolytes

Abstract

In recent years, a great interest has been emerged on electrochemical preparation of semiconductor films based on selenium. Therefore, a study of electrochemical reduction of selenium could be very important. In this work, the kinetics and mechanism of the electrochemical reduction of selenite ions on the Pt cathode have been studied in the electrolyte containing selenious and tartaric acids. The study shows that electroreduction of selenite ions from tartaric electrolytes proceeds in two stages. The effect of various factors on the cathodic reduction of selenium ions has also been studied. The effective activation energy was calculated using the polarization curves of the temperature dependence of the electroreduction process of selenite ions. It was established that the process of electroreduction under investigation is proceeding by mixed kinetics, at first by concentration and then by electrochemical polarization.