Electrode Processes in Vanadium-Containing Chloride Melts

The kinetics of the electrode processes in vanadium-containing chloride melts was investigated in the middle of the last century [1-5]. Most of the studies were conducted using polarization measurements. Data obtained by different authors are rather fragmentary and often contradictory. For example, there is no information on anodic dissolution of vanadium metal in chloride electrolytes. 

In the present work the electrode processes involving vanadium species were investigated in NaCl-KCl-based melts employing both stationary and non-stationary methods galvanostatic commutational, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, linear, cyclic, and square-wave voltammetry. We also studied the applicability of various working electrode materials for studying electrode processes in vanadium-containing chloride melts. 

Individual NaCl and KCl salts were dried for 3 h at 300 C, then melted, and fused salts were bubbled with a mixture of chlorine and hydrogen chloride for 4h and finally kept under vacuum for a further 3 h. To prepare 

Molten Salts Chemistry and Technology, First Edition. Edited by Marcelle Gaune-Escard and Geir Martin Haarberg. 2014 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley Sons, Ltd. 

All the experiments for polarization curve measurements were performed using a previously described [7, 8], custom-built electrochemical complex consisting of a galvanostat, an ADC and a personal computer. Non-stationary electrochemical processes were studied using an Autolab 302N potentiostat/galvanostat equipped with a Booster 20A module. 

---

Electrode Processes in Vanadium-Containing Chloride Melts 259... 

---