Is this a sign of progress?

[Scorpion812]

Hi everybody,

I built my first electrolysis setup 3 days ago and it has been running on NaCl for the same time. I noticed some weird orange stuff on the cathode, and i dont think its rust, and the anode has some white stuff on it, maybe already some chlorate?

I am using a Ti Cathode and a graphite anode at 5v 12A. I know how terrible this setup is, but its just a first test. another question, does it matter if i use salt that contains iodine?

 

If anyone can help me with this, I would be very thankful

[Arthur]

The yellow mess is most likely corrosion of the croc clip, or it's plating finish. The Ti electrode seems rather small for 12A. You do really need a lid with seals for the electrodes to pass through so that chloride/chlorate spray doesn't corrode the connections and surroundings -shelf etc.

[Scorpion812]

The yellow mess is most likely corrosion of the croc clip, or it's plating finish. The Ti electrode seems rather small for 12A. You do really need a lid with seals for the electrodes to pass through so that chloride/chlorate spray doesn't corrode the connections and surroundings -shelf etc.

thanks for your reply! I know that i need a lid, but this is just a little test, so i dont think its gonna be that much of a problem, I can see that there is some Ti coating on the graphite anode, is that a bad thing? will i have to swap out my anode?

[MadMat]

I'll second that on the corrosion of the plating on the clip. Most of those electrical clips are tin plated and stannous (tin) chloride is... you guessed it, yellowish in color. I have used a vinyl "dip" coating found in hardware stores to coat the tops of the electrodes in my cells. It's the stuff used for coating the handles on tools.