Two years ago I tried making a chlorate electrolysis cell, which largely failed.
I specifically was using a lead dioxide “one pot” type setup.
This year, im going to try this project again by making a much larger lead dioxide electrode, and using a titanium plate instead of stainless steel.
I found the website “the chlorates and perchlorates” extremely useful.
I dont really intend to make super pure chlorates and perchlorates, as I mostly plan to use them as oxidiser for rockets. I also just find the process of making an oxidiser from fairly inert chemicals quite interesting.
Originally, I made some nitric acid by distilling sulpheric acid and nitric acid together. This was then added to an electroplating bath with a graphite electrode and lead metal. In theory, the nitric acid is acting as a catalyst in this reaction because the production of lead dioxide produces nitric acid as a byproduct, allowing for further dissolution of the lead metal. This seemingly worked fairly well, so I might stick with it when making the larger electrode.
I chose to use lead dioxide rather than platinum or MMO because it works best for a simple one stage cell. Producing perchlorates with a platinum electrode will actually erode it over time. Lead dioxide is also simply cheaper to experiment with.
For my “mark II” design im planning to use a polyethylene bucket as the main cell, as its lighter and cheaper than glass, but chemically resistant to the electrolyte, as well as the aformentioned improved electrodes. I will also need to get a better power supply, as originally I used an old computer PSU which quickly died, and I was unable to limit the current.
I also plan to get some more supplimentary chemicals like Indigo Carmine for detecting chlorates, and Methelyne Blue for detecting perchlorates. I found persulphate can help in the selective production of perchlorates.
