Oxyhalide salts, decompositions

Diverse and sometimes contrasting types of kinetic behaviour have been described for the decompositions of salts in this class, which includes the metal carbonates, sulphates, nitrates and nitrites, phosphates, oxyhalides, permanganates and chromates (Sects. 3.1—3.7, respectively). It is con-... 

The high values of E generally characteristic of the decomposition reactions of metal oxyhalides are widely interpreted as evidence that the initial step in anion breakdown is the rupture of the X—O bond and that the energy barrier to this reaction is not very sensitive to the properties of the cation present. Information of use in the formulation of reaction mechanisms has been obtained from radiolytic studies of oxyhalogen salts [887-889],... 

A comprehensive review of the pre-1976 literature on the decompositions of the salts of halogen oxyacids has been provided by Solymosi [1]. Another important review (1974) by Stem [2] is concerned with the high temperature properties of oxyhalides. 

A number of unique difficulties pertain to oxidation states of metal ions encountered in molten salt solutions. For example, for first-row transition metals, the highest oxidation state prevailing is often +3, as in the case of Fe and Cr. Frequently, for chlorides in particular, the +3 state compounds are volatile at suitable operating temperatures and, hence, their solutions are thermally unstable.Other problems encountered include rapidly dispropor-tionating states, the formation of oxyhalides, and precipitation of complexes by reaction with the melt. While redox reactions per se involve very fast charge transfer steps, these may occur at the extremes of the range of electrochemical stability, thus leading to concomitant solvent melt decomposition. Nevertheless, suitable processes such as Fe /Fe on vitreous carbon in chloride melts can be employed to determine the effective electrochemical areas of electrodes where diffusion coefficients are accurately known. ... 

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