Cathodic Reactivity of Platinum and Palladium in Electrolytes in Superdry Conditions

Platinum and Palladium behave in an unexpected manner when cathodically polarised in the presence of electrolytes dissolved in carefully dried polar organic solvents, such as N,N-dimethylformamide. A reductive layer is formed on the metal the thickness of which depends on the amount of electricity consumed during the course of the electrolyses. Although this reaction seems to be of a general character with most of the common electrolytes, in this paper we will focus on results obtained with a large palette of tetraalkylammonium salts and alkali metal iodides.