Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Pbo2 solubility?

Dragonjack12 - 20-1-2019 at 17:15

Does any one know a solvent for lead lV oxide that isn’t acetic acid?

Swinfi2 - 21-1-2019 at 05:27

I'm pretty sure PbO2 acts like a covalent network. Which is why it resists most solvents, you need to break the bonds to "dissolve" it onto another species.

I think the easiest would be strong caustics as the plumbate ion (PbO4 -4) is a thing, but solutions of lead are obviously horribly toxic so be careful and work out how you're going to deal with the product before you make it.

PyroPlatinum - 21-1-2019 at 07:16

Lead acetate and nitrate are soluble. But toxic tough.

macckone - 21-1-2019 at 21:41

Lead(IV) Oxide is not going to dissolve easily.
That is one of the nice things about it.
It should be soluble in molten oxidizing salts but it would be unstable, converting to oxygen and lead.
There might be a deep eutectic solvent that would work but I am not aware of any.
This might be an interesting area of research.

phlogiston - 22-1-2019 at 02:08

Heating it will convert it to lower oxides of lead that dissolve more readily in acid.
The exact oxide depends on the temperature. Above 600 deg C, it decomposes to PbO.

PbO2 itself does dissolve in nitric acid, it just takes very long.

Probaby, if you give some more information on what you are trying to do, we can give better advice.
What is the reason you do not want to use acetic acid?

Dragonjack12 - 22-1-2019 at 16:40

Were did the thread get moved to?
I don’t want to use acetic acid because it takes a long time to make as much as I will probably need. I am trying to refurbish some old batteries by Selectively disalving the bridged electrodes.:)

[Edited on 23-1-2019 by Dragonjack12]