Electrolysis uses electricity, free ions, and electrodes to refine metals or extract materials. The process can also be used for electroplating and refining gases like hydrogen from water.
The electrolytic process is typically used to refine substances such as metals or to extract materials from a solution. There are three main components required for any electrolytic process, which are electricity, a substance that contains free ions, and two objects that act as electrodes. The presence of an electric current flowing through the electrolyte can cause a chemical reaction that would not otherwise occur spontaneously. In metal refining, atoms of an impure substance are made to transfer to a pure cathode due to the flow of electricity. The electrolytic process can also be used to extract substances, such as hydrogen refining from water.
In order to use electrolysis to refine metal, both electrodes will usually be made from that material. An impure mineral or alloy may be used for the anode and the cathode is made from the pure form. The electrolyte will also contain the same metal in the form of free ions which are held in solution. When an electric current is applied to the electrodes, it can flow between them through the electrolyte. This will tend to cause the ions in the solution to stick to their corresponding electrode, depending on whether they are positively or negatively charged, resulting in a collection of pure metal atoms at the cathode.
The electroplating process can also be used for plating one metal with another or for decorative engraving. These uses of the process are very similar to the refining method, although the coating of one metal with another is referred to as electrodeposition. Using the electroplating process for etching typically uses acrylics and other substances to coat the metal, and is sometimes referred to as electro-etching.
Gases, such as hydrogen, can also be refined by the electrolytic process. Water is chemically composed of hydrogen and oxygen, and an electric current can be used to break it down into these components. The anode and cathode are each made of the same substance, typically stainless steel or another inert metal.
When current is applied to electrodes immersed in water, it will tend to decay into oxygen near the anode and hydrogen at the cathode. By placing the collection vessels on the appropriate electrode, pure oxygen or hydrogen can be collected. Since pure water tends to undergo a limited amount of self-ionization, the presence of free ions can be low and the process tends to progress slowly. For this reason, hydrogen is not often collected with the electrolytic process on an industrial scale.
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