Electrolysis of gold in thiourea solution.

Removal of the gold (and silver) coating by electrolysis in an aqueous solution containing 2.5-10% thiourea, sulfuric acid (total pH 0.5-2). The voltage 1-2 volts, the cathode of stainless steel. Sorry, if the pictures are not in order, I think you will understand.

Is it diluted sulfuric or fairly concentrated?

patnor1011 said:

Is it diluted sulfuric or fairly concentrated?

Click to expand...

Tiourea 80g, H2SO4 ( concentr.)- 10 mL (can electrolite 1,27- 40 ml), h2o- 1Litr, pH 0,5-2.

ION 47 said:

Tiourea 80g, H2SO4 ( concentr.)- 10 mL (can electrolite 1,27- 40 ml), h2o- 1Litr, pH 0,5-2.

Click to expand...

thiourea 80g + H2SO4 10ml ? then add water until 1litr(ph 0,5 - 2 ) ?
are that's you mean sir ?

Yes but not in that order. First dissolve thio in distilled water and then add sulfuric.

Hummmm... interesting! 8)
So, we start by making an electrolyte solution of:
1) 1L of distilled water
2) add to the water and dissolve 80g of Thiourea
3) then slowly add 10ml of concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4)

We use a cathode of stainless steel, our anode is the gold pated material.
The voltage 1-2 volts... how many amps?

Question:
The gold plates unto the S. steel and then we scrape to recover the gold?

Thank you!
Phil

There seems to be another option.

An OwlTech video:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Thiourea&docid=608014524156152861&mid=5528AFDC9761B5A3F09B5528AFDC9761B5A3F09B&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Interesting!!! 8)

No need for 10ml of sulfuric. I add just couple drops and got ph where it was supposed to be. Or use citric acid but couple drops of battery acid are far cheaper than citric.
That is if we want to watch pennies :mrgreen:

You can practically see gold moving from your material to cathode with your own eyes.

a short video which shows how gold moves in cell

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDFxfwMBDOc[/youtube]

Very nice, Pat! 8)
One question, though, what ph did you set the solution at, when you just added a few drops of battery acid?

I notice at the top pic's of the posts, ph at 0.52?
And on pic of the cup, a ph 2.0... which one is correct?

Thanks!
Phil

I believe that he meant 0,5 to 2. So anything between should be cool. I left my ph meter in my friends so I used paper and I got it close to 2. Couple drops were all it took according to test papers and my eyes.

Thank you, Pat!!!