Electrochemical Synthesis of Al-Sm Metal by Coreduction of Sm(III) and Al(III) in a K3A1F6 Melt

Abstract

Abstract The electrochemical behaviors of Sm(III) in the molten K3A1F6 system were investigated with a tungsten electrode at 1024 K. By electrochemical tests, including cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry, Sm(III) was reduced to Sm(0) in two steps. The diffusion coefficient of Sm(III) was 1.90*10−5 cm2/s when examined by using cyclic voltammetry in the molten salts. The electrochemical signal of the Al-Sm intermetallic compound was detected at -1.71 V and -2.22 V. AlSm2 and Al3Sm were obtained by potentiostatic electrolysis at -2.3 V for 10 h. These intermetallic compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with energy.