Electrochemical behavior of Th(IV) and its electrodeposition from ThF4-LiCl-KCl melt

• Published in: Electrochimica acta Vol. 196; pp. 286 - 293
• Main Authors: Wang, Xianbin, Huang, Wei, Gong, Yu, Jiang, Feng, Zheng, Haiyang, Zhu, Tiejian, Long, Dewu, Li, Qingnuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2016
• Subjects: Cyclic voltammetry; LiCl-KCl; Pulse potential electrolysis; Square wave voltammetry; ThF4; Cyclic voltammetry; Square wave voltammetry; Pulse potential electrolysis; ThF4; LiCl-KCl
• ISSN: 0013-4686; 1873-3859
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2016.02.184

The electrochemical behavior of Th(IV) ion on molybdenum (Mo) electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) technologies at 773 K in ThF4-LiCl-KCl melt. The reduction of Th(IV) to metal Th at −1.67V (vs. Ag/AgCl) is a four-electron exchange process, which is quasi-reversible and diffusion-controlled. The diffusion coefficient (D) and activation energy of diffusion process for Th(IV) were determined to be 3.77×10−5cm2s−1 and 59.2kJmol−1. The pulse potential electrolysis of ThF4-LiCl-KCl melt revealed that 86.8% of Th(IV) can be separated from the melt based on the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) results.