Speciation in aqueous solutions of nitric acid

Abstract

In this study, speciation in aqueous solutions of nitric acid at 25 °C was assessed in two independent ways. First, Raman experiments were carried out and interpreted in terms of free nitrate ions, ion pairs and neutral HNO₃ molecules. In parallel, a model was developed to account for the formation of these two kinds of pairs. It was based on an extension of the binding mean spherical approximation (BiMSA), or associative MSA (AMSA), in which the size and the charge of the ions in the chemical pair may differ from those of the free ions. A simultaneous fit of the osmotic coefficient and of the proportion of free ions (obtained from Raman spectroscopy experiments) led to an estimation of the speciation in nitric acid solutions. The result obtained using this procedure was compared with the estimation obtained from the Raman experiments.