Platinum Metals Review - Volume 3, Issue 2, 1959

The introduction of platinum-clad anode materials has opened up wide possibilities to the designer of cathodic protection systems. The economic advantages and excellent performance of composite anodes of platinum on tantalum or titanium are reviewed in this article.

The introduction into a lead electrode of a small piece of platinum brings about a remarkable change in the electrode behaviour. It is shown that lead-platinum bi-electrodes may well have important applications in electrolytic processes such as cathode protection.

For a number of years Dr. Pourbaix has been well known for his original method of treatment, based on thermo-dynamic equations, of the changes occurring when a metal is immersed in an aqueous solution. His graphical method, which compresses a great deal of information into a relatively simple diagram, has helped to elucidate a number of problems concerning corrosion, cathodic protection and other electrochemical phenomena. This article summarises the general basis of treatment and describes the work recently completed in his laboratories on the platinum metals.

A new plant costing some million—the largest of its kind in the world—has recently been opened by Laporte Chemicals Ltd to produce hydrogen peroxide by the autoxidation of an anthraquinol. After separation of the hydrogen peroxide the anthraquinone formed is hydrogenated back to the quinol over a palladium catalyst and the solution recycled.

Ancient methods of producing lustre effects are briefly described as a background to the introduction of platinum for this purpose. There follows a short history of the uses of platinum for producing bright and matt-surfaced decorations on ceramic glazes.