Enhanced preparation of dendritic metallic vanadium in recyclable NaCl–KCl–VCl₂ molten salt by V₂CO electrolysis

A promising method for the preparation of pure metallic vanadium via V₂CO anode electrolysis was proposed and confirmed. The simple and controllable synthesis of a molten chloride salt containing VCl₂ by an in-situ reaction between VCl₃ and metallic vanadium was verified through thermodynamic analysis and experiments. NaCl–KCl–VCl₂ molten salt exhibited excellent recycling performance and could be repetitively used to prepare metallic vanadium by V₂CO electrolysis. The V²⁺ ions remained in the molten salt after electrolysis. The electrolysis conditions, such as the cathode diameter, current density, V²⁺ ion concentration, and temperature, were optimised to maximise the current efficiency. Electrolysis was also simulated to reveal the regulatory mechanism. The highest current efficiency was 85%. The purity of metallic vanadium was up to 99.8%. In this study, an easy and efficient preparation of pure metallic vanadium was achieved.