Cooperative Electroreduction of Cerium and Nickel Ions in the Equimolar KCl–NaCl Melt at 973 K

Abstract—Cyclic and square-wave voltammetry and open-circuit chronopotentiometry (on/off curves) are used to study the cooperative electroreduction of cerium and nickel ions at a tungsten electrode in the equimolar KCl–NaCl melt at 973 K. Analysis of cyclic voltammetry curves of the KCl–NaCl–СеCl₃–NiCl₂ molten system and results obtained by open-circuit chronopotentiometry (on/off curves) and square-wave voltammetry allow us to conclude that the electrochemical synthesis of cerium intermetallics with nickel can be fulfilled only in a kinetic mode, i.e., by electroreduction of [CeCl₆]^3– ions on metallic nickel preliminary deposited on the tungsten electrode, which is accompanied by the formation of Ce_xNi_y intermetallics as a result of reactive diffusion. Based on the data obtained by different physicochemical methods, electrochemical synthesis of the Ce_xNi_y intermetallics is performed. The synthesized intermetallics are studied by X-ray diffraction using a D2Phaser diffractometer and a VEGA 3LMN (Tescan) scanning electron microscope.