Silver Electrodeposition from Ag/AgCl Electrodes: Implications for Nanoscience

Chuhongxu Chen; Ziwei Wang; Guilin Chen; Zhijia Zhang; Zakhar Bedran; Stephen Tipper; Pablo Dıaz-Nunez; Ivan Timokhin; Artem Mishchenko; Qian Yang

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01929

arXiv · 2505.16597

Silver Electrodeposition from Ag/AgCl Electrodes: Implications for Nanoscience

Chuhongxu Chen·Ziwei Wang·Guilin Chen·Zhijia Zhang·Zakhar Bedran·Stephen Tipper·Pablo Dıaz-Nunez·Ivan Timokhin·Artem Mishchenko·Qian Yang

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Abstract

With the advancement of nanoscience, silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes have become widely utilised in microscale and nanoscale fluidic experiments, because of their stability. However, our findings reveal that the dissolution of AgCl from the electrode in \ch{Cl-}-rich solutions can lead to significant silver contamination, through the formation of silver complexes, \ch{[AgCl_{n+1}]^{n-}}. We demonstrate the electrodeposition of silver particles on graphene in KCl aqueous solution, with AgCl dissolution from the electrode as the sole source of silver. This unexpected electrodeposition process offers a more plausible interpretation of the recently reported ``ionic flow-induced current in graphene''. That is, the measured electronic current in graphene is due to the electrodeposition of silver, challenging the previously claimed ``ionic Coulomb drag''. More caution is called for when using Ag/AgCl electrodes in microfluidic, and especially nanofluidic systems, because AgCl dissolution should not be neglected.

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Chuhongxu Chen, Ziwei Wang, Guilin Chen, Zhijia Zhang, Zakhar Bedran, Stephen Tipper, Pablo Dıaz-Nunez, Ivan Timokhin, Artem Mishchenko, Qian Yang. 2025-05-22. Silver Electrodeposition from Ag/AgCl Electrodes: Implications for Nanoscience. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01929

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