Nature of Current Increase for a CoCrMo Alloy: “transpassive” Dissolution vs. Water Oxidation

The “transpassive” behavior of a CoCrMo alloy has been investigated to clarify the nature of the current increase at high anodic potential (0.5-0.7 VAg/AgCl). The total amount of released metal ions was determined after the potentiostatic measurements. According to the calculation through Faradays’ law, the metal dissolution only contributes to part of the total current recorded. Electrochemical AFM mapping did not show pronounced topography changes at 0.65 VAg/AgCl, while light optical microscopy observation revealed fast evolution of oxygen bubbles. Evidently water oxidation is another important process largely contributing to the current increase at the high potential.