Kinetic studies on the decomposition of potassium bis(oxalato)cobaltate(II)

Abstract The decomposition of K 2 [Co(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ] occurs in two steps. The first occurs in the range 140–250°C and involves the loss of 1.5 moles of CO to produce K 2 [Co(C 2 O 4 ) 0.5 (CO 3 ) 1.5 ]. Avrami rate laws with indices of 1.5 and 2 provide about equally good fits to most of the data. A gradual loss of CO continues up to about 350°C where the composition is K 2 [Co(CO 3 ) 2 ]: this decomposes in a single step to K 2 O and CoO by 430°C. This reaction gave α, T data, most of which were best represented by a power law, P3.