Electrochemical interaction between silver and sulfur in sodium sulfide solutions

Corrosion of silver and gold in sulfur-containing environments has been an industrial problem. The current study is concerned with the corrosion react ion behavior of silver in sodium sulfide solutions. An electrochemical inve stigation of silver corrosion has been carried out using a potentiostat, an d the resulting corrosion products have been identified with the help of sc anning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectr oscopy. The effect of a concentration of sodium sulfide, pH, temperature, a nd electrical potential on the corrosion behavior of silver was investigate d using Tafel plots and potentiodynamic polarization. The corrosion product s under the conditions studied were found to be mainly silver sulfide and o ccasionally silver oxide. The corrosion rate was found to be positively inf luenced by both the pH of the solution and the concentration of sodium sulf ide.