On the Mechanism of Water Electrolysis

Abstract

A two stage model of the physicochemical processes at the electrolysis of pure water is proposed. The presence of nascent hydrogen in the catholyte and nascent oxygen in the anolyte during the first stage explains the antioxidant properties of the catholyte and the strong biocidal action of the anolyte. In the second stage the nascent hydrogen and oxygen are combined into hydrogen and oxygen molecules, respectively. The comparison between their average energies with the average energy of the control sample of water shows an increase in the average energy of the catholyte and decrease in the average energy of the anolyte. This indicates that some changes in the structure of the activated water have occurred.

Keywords: Electrochemically activated water (ECAW), catholyte, anolyte, nascent hydrogen, nascent oxygen, energetic spectrum, energy of hydrogen bonds.