pH sensitive gel pads for the visualization of anodes and cathodes on zinc

Zinc and zinc alloys have many applications. Zinc corrosion takes place in the atmosphere and is assumed to follow the water drop theory (a macroelement), in which the anode is at the centre of the drop and is surrounded by a cathode. This paper is the first to use gel electrolytes made of agar to visualize anodic and cathodic areas on zinc samples in order to examine the water drop theory. For that, agar gels were added with universal pH indicators, as the anode and cathode exhibit different pH values. In this paper, different amounts of pH indicators were tested to determine whether the indicator influences the potential, the impedance, phase shift, corrosion current and potential and corrosion layer resistance.