During the anodic sweep, a very well defined sharp oxidation peak is recorded corresponding to the reduction of Ag(s) generate in Eq. (1).
equation(2)
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This peak is narrower and more intense than the oxidation peak obtained in oxalic acid solution [26]. The anodic peak is very similar to that obtained when a colloidal suspension of silver nanoparticles [27] is deposited on the electrode surface, and the Ag nanoparticles are oxidized electrochemically in the same NaCl electrolyte (cf. Fig. 1, solid line). This may be taken as a hint that the metallic silver resulting from the reduction of AgCl is also nanosized. In the second and following cycles, silver nanoparticles show both signals, which appear in case of AgCl. This indicates that much of the silver is cycled between silver metal and solid AgCl; a phenomenon which makes it difficult to clean the electrode from silver when the surface concentration is above 10−9 mol cm−2. From Fig. 1 it is clear that the shape and size of the peak current associated with the oxidation of silver, making it superior for analytical purposes, compared to the reduction current peak.