Influence of the characteristics of p-Si BDD anodes on the efficiency of peroxodiphosphate electro synthesis process

This work is focused on the study of the role of several conductive-diamond characteristics on the performance of the electrosynthesis of peroxodiphosphate. Commercial lots provided by an important conductive-diamond manufacturing company and statistical tools have been used to establish the main conclusions. Contrary to what it can be expected the thickness of the diamond layer is the most significant parameter. The thinner the layer, the better the results obtained. As the service life of the BDD electrode is directly related to the thickness of the diamond layer, this fact appears as an important drawback for industrial applications. It also seems that the boron content increases the efficiency of the process but this effect is less clearly observed (only for very high contents). These results have been interpreted in terms of the oxidation mechanism involved in the peroxophosphate synthesis process. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.