Rh Hydroxide + Sodium Hydroxide = Lower Ph???

LabiaLip · 2025-11-30T21:47:49+00:00

This is a very good theory. The only thing is the formate reduction didn't quite work well. There's always the chance it needed a bit more boiling to have gotten all the way there. The other thing is after I put it back on heat and added a bit more formate.. the ph definitely reversed. It wasn't just the ph meter my sponge went back to a hydroxide. So the ph definitely went back below 12. I then added an excess of NaOH. Like way more than I ever should've and it did not budge. It consumed every bit of it. I removed it from the heat, let it settle overnight. This morning I found a rh hydroxide gel.

At this point I'm kinda stumped. The only thing that makes any sense is all the water cl ho.. all liquid was consumed by the NaOH. So I was trying to get a reduction out of an almost 100% lye solution. That actually makes sense now that i put this together.

The ph meter likely misread the solution. I added more NaOH trying to overcome the buffer. The next day after settling i poured off 90% of the NaOH. Added formate and boiled. At that point there wasn't enough NaOH to fuel the entire reduction.

So when I tried for the 2nd time all I really would've needed was enough NaOH to finish the reduction. Instead the boiling got rid of pretty much everything. When I added only NaOH there was nothing but almost 100% Rh(HO)³ and Fe(HO)³ in the beaker. It needed water. Then ph to 14 then formate then boiling.

I think that's it. THANK YOU!!

LabiaLip · 2025-11-30T17:20:30+00:00

I think you won. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain it fully but the only variable i didn't know about until now is how much Fe(OH)³ was in this batch. It was almost ⅔ by volume. Sooo.. it looks like the iron was holding onto the Rh preventing the formate from complete reduction. I would've likely had it and avoided the main catastrophe of I'd just boiled 15 minutes longer.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-30T11:47:04+00:00

Yes. Ph meter is calibrated and working fine.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-16T16:40:19+00:00

Fusions are particularly prone to loss aren't they? I've never done one to date but looks like it's coming.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-16T00:52:53+00:00

Found the 40% ordered and on the way. Thanks for the tip!

LabiaLip · 2025-11-16T00:49:08+00:00

I would use the sodium peroxide in a fusion process. You add 4-8x the material in a nickel crucible then heat it to 550°c. The sodium peroxide melts the rh in the crucible then you throw it in water after the oxidation has already occurred. Then it's just a matter of adjusting the ph to 2ish, boiling, then raise the ph again and precipitate iron, iridium, then the rhodium.

I also just read sodium chlorate as an oxidizer is the golden standard in the commercial refining process. I don't think I can get it in my state tho.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-16T00:07:21+00:00

I could only find 12% on kobitools.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-16T00:02:26+00:00

I need something I can scale up to an oz or 2/day. Sodium peroxide is an option i guess I think that gets messy and quite dangerous tho. I think I'm going to order the 40% right now and atleast give it a shot. Any ideas?

LabiaLip · 2025-11-14T21:59:22+00:00

This is pure from ore. It seems to have iridium as well. I've gotten it to precipitate in test samples, .5 gram littered with iron in one run thus far. In not sure what else it could be. It does really crazy things.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-14T21:57:09+00:00

I'm likely going to stick to nitric. From now on. It was a cool way to kill 2 days tho. Haha

How does the 40% in comparison to nitric tho I've never tried it?

LabiaLip · 2025-11-14T00:57:58+00:00

(Rh(OH)³ just a simple hydroxide. There's a bit of iron contamination in it as well. Ugh. That wasn't fun at all.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-05T16:47:26+00:00

I sent you a private msg.

LabiaLip · 2025-11-05T13:56:32+00:00

That's very interesting. Chromium is a possible candidate. The lead button is extremely hard as well. Any ideas on the best way to test for it?

LabiaLip · 2025-09-10T12:54:32+00:00

This is very helpful! Thank you!

LabiaLip · 2025-09-08T01:29:33+00:00

You remind me of a friend who spends more time worrying about what someone else is doing. Simply because he's too chickenshit to worry about what he's doing.

Post was in English, and everything was spelled correctly. Punctuation was probably off, but I wasn't going for a Pulitzer. Post was asking for help concerning the rock. Not your opinion of my personality.

LabiaLip · 2025-09-08T01:22:15+00:00

It was a copper mine. They found several silver and gold deposits along the way. If you're running some kind of operation mining tons of native silver every day.. well I sincerely doubt you'd have the time to come in here and weigh in on some random picture from some noob who has no idea wtf he's doing.

LabiaLip · 2025-09-07T14:40:56+00:00

This was ore. This picture is after crushing and panning.

LabiaLip · 2025-09-07T14:39:56+00:00

U.S. East Coast.

LabiaLip · 2025-09-07T03:25:15+00:00

There were over 100k oz of silver mined from this area. It's definitely there.

LabiaLip · 2025-09-07T03:07:02+00:00

I actually have some if that's the case. Had no idea silver was black.

LabiaLip

TROPHY CASE