Reduction of water-soluble colloidal manganese dioxide by thiourea: a kinetic and mechanistic study

Kinetic data for the colloidal MnO₂–thiourea redox system are reported for the first time. The reduction of water-soluble colloidal MnO₂ by thiourea (sulfur containing reductant) in aqueous perchloric acid medium has shown that it proceeds in two stages, i.e., a fast stage followed by a relatively slow second stage. The log (absorbance) versus time plot deviates from linearity. The kinetics of both the stages was investigated spectrophotometrically. The first-order kinetics with respect to [thiourea] at low concentration shifts to zero-order at higher concentration. The reaction rate increases with [HClO₄] and the kinetics reveals complex order dependence in [HClO₄]. Addition of P₂O ₇ ⁴⁻ and F⁻ in the form of Na₄P₂O₇ and NaF, respectively, has inhibitory effect on the reaction rate. The reaction proceeds through the fast adsorption of thiourea on the surface of the colloidal MnO₂. A mechanism involving the protonated thiourea as the reactive reductant species is proposed. The observed results are discussed in terms of Michaelis–Menten/Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. From the observed kinetic data, colloidal MnO₂–thiourea adsorption constant (K _ad1) and rate constant (k ₁) were calculated to be 1.25×10¹⁰ mol⁻¹ dm³ and 3.1×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, respectively. The variation of temperature does not have any effect on the reaction rate.