Gas eruption phenomenon happening from Ga-In alloy in NaOH electrolyte

Gas eruption phenomenon happening from Ga-In alloy in NaOH electrolyte. Ruiqi Zhao et al (2017), Applied Physics Letters https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5017949

We report a gas eruption phenomenon caused by electrolysis of a liquid Ga-In alloy in an electrolyte, especially NaOH solution. A volcanic eruption-like blowout of gas occurred from the orifice on the alloy surface. In addition to the gas plume, large gas bubbles were also generated and the total gas yield increased as the In ratio was increased. It is found that the destructiveness of the passivation layer on the Ga-In alloy is critical to gas generation. The mechanism of gas eruption can be ascribed to a galvanic interaction between the passivation film and the connected alloy, because of their different electrochemical activity in the electrolyte. Further investigation demonstrated that the lattice of the film expands because of the incorporation of indium, which brings about the decrease in the bandgap and finally enhances more gas generation. These findings regain the basic understanding of a room temperature liquid metal inside an electrolyte.

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