Is Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3) a good buffer solution?
NaHCO3 is a good buffer because it completely dissociates into Na+ (which doesn’t do much) and HCO3-, an amphoteric ion that can act either as an acid (donates its H+) or as a base (accept an H+ to form H2CO3). So amphoteric substances generally are good buffers because they can “counteract” the effects of acids and bases that are added into their solution, whether that means accepting excess protons or donating protons when there is a lack of it. There’s also the whole deal with Henderson-Hasselbalch and how an optimum buffer has equal concentrations of a weak acid (or weak base) and its conjugate, but that doesn’t seem to be what you’re asking.
