Ill skip right to it
Basically im planning on setting up a electrolysis cell to make potassium chlorate, potassium perchlorate and ammonium perchlorate mainly for personal use and maybe some to sell to other local enthusiasts (There is absolutely no one in Australia that sells KCLO3, KCLO4 and NA4CLO4, if you want it you have to find someone to ship it to you internationally)
The whole process seems straightforward but the only problems im having is with making and or sourcing a suitable anode. At first i wanted to make a graphite substitute lead dioxide anode (and still do) but for that i need nitric acid which im sure many of you would know is not as easy to get these days.
That leaves pretty much only platinum, the problem with platinum is the price and availability. Ideally i would like to purchase a gram or two of scrap and either electroplate something with it or draw it out into a wire (or flatten it into a sheet) but once again it seems no one is going to sell me a gram or two. Still there are options, i have located a seller who is offering 10cm platinum plated anodes for $30US with a coating of 2.5um. I have no idea if i am flushing my money away if i buy one considering the process does cause a small amount of erosion (2.5um is not that big either).
I would rather make a lead dioxide anode:
http://www.wfvisser.dds.nl/EN/gsld_EN.html
Lets say i can buy the copper and lead nitrates, it still calls for changing the pH to 1 with nitric acid. Is it possible to use HCl in its place.
What do you think about the 10cm 2.5um anode? any good?
Cheers
(hope ive done this right)