Investigating the effect of ferrous ions on the anomalous hydrogen evolution on magnesium in acidic ferrous chloride solution

Electrochemical testing, hydrogen collection and on-line inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy are used to assess the dissolution of high purity magnesium and the attendant hydrogen evolved in solutions containing ferrous ions. It was revealed that ferrous ions in solution had a minimal effect on the hydrogen evolved upon anodically polarized magnesium. The results show that deposition of ferrous ions could not account for enhanced hydrogen evolution during anodic polarization of magnesium. Further analysis of the results obtained under the testing conditions in this study show that the anomalous hydrogen evolution exhibited by dissolving Mg was associated with the regions of anodic dissolution.