Keywords
molten salts, metal chlorides, metal oxides, reference electrode, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, chronopotentiometry
Abstract
The development of stable and buffered reference electrodes (REs) is crucial for molten salt electrochemistry, particularly in pyrochemical processing, such as electrorefining. These REs must maintain a stable potential to ensure precise control over electrorefining processes by preventing unwanted shifts in the potential that could lead to impurity deposition. This study evaluated metal chlorides and metal oxides as potential candidates for REs, with their stability assessed via electrochemical methods over extended durations. While metal chloride-based REs exhibited stable potential behavior over time, their response followed the Nernst equation, leading to potential shifts with varying concentrations of oxidized species. Metal oxide-based REs were explored to address the need for both stability and concentration-independent potential. These REs demonstrated the ability to maintain a constant potential regardless of concentration changes. The introduction of this metal oxide-based RE presents a promising advancement for use in binary chloride molten salts, offering robust, stable performance in electrorefining applications, particularly in the electrorefining of plutonium within equimolar sodium chloride and potassium chloride (NaCl-KCl) molten salt systems.
Original Publication Citation
Carlos Mejia, Nicholas Christensen, Ricardo Rodriguez Ceron, Devin Rappleye, Development of a stable and buffered reference electrode for binary molten chlorides salts, Electrochimica Acta, Volume 512, 2025, 145496, ISSN 0013-4686, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2024.145496.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Mejia, Carlos; Christensen, Nicholas; Ceron, Ricardo Rodriguez; and Rappleye, Devin, "Development of a Stable and Buffered Reference Electrode for Binary Molten Chlorides Salts" (2024). Faculty Publications. 8481.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/8481
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2024-12-09
Publisher
Electrochimica Acta
Language
English
College
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
Copyright Status
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. This is the author's accepted version of this article. The definitive version can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468624017328.
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