Adsorption of dicarboxylic acids on lithiated nickel oxide electrode

Adsorption of dicarboxylic acids on NiO electrodes was studied by means of the galvanostatic transient method, mainly for oxalic acid. The oxalate or hydrogen oxalate anion or both were concluded to adsorb on the electrode. The adsorption was maximal at a potential less positive than the flat-band potential of the electrode, owing to preferential adsorption of hydroxyl anion in the region above the maximum adsorption potential. The quantity of adsorption was dependent on carrier concentration of the electrode, and high for the electrode of high carrier concentration. This phenomenon is connected to the charged condition of the electrode that when the maximum adsorption takes place, positively charged sites remain on the surface of the electrode which is charged negatively as a whole and the amount of the sites is much more different between the electrodes of different N than their bulk carrier concentrations. Adsorptions of malonic and succinic acid were distinctly low compared with that of oxalic acid. The adsorbability was in the order; oxalic acid>malonic acid>succinic acid. This order was in accord with the stability constants of nickel dicarboxylic acid chelates.