Preparation and arc melting decomposition of cerium trichloride
摘要
Cerium trichloride was prepared from the reaction of CeO2 with AlCl3 in a sealed quartz ampoule or from the reaction of CeO2 with CCl4 in a pressure vessel. The synthetic approach with AlCl3 allowed for the preparation of hundreds of milligram quantities of material and bypassed the use of solvents or flowing gas reactions. The CeCl3 sample prepared from AlCl3 was characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis/ differential scanning calorimetry (TGA–DSC) and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS). Thermal decomposition of CeCl3 prepared from CCl4 via arc-melting led to the formation of a CeCl3/CeOCl mixture.