Abstract
The use of a fused salt solution of calcium carbide as the electrolyte in an electrochemical cell for the monitoring of carbon in metal solutions is shown to be unsatisfactory due to partial electronic conductivity in the electrolyte.
The experimental results of Salzanoet al. [1] using such a device with liquid sodium-carbon solutions are shown to correspond to a steady state situation in which a carbon flux, equivalent to the electron flux in the electrolyte, is established from the graphite electrode to the steel barrier separating the electrolyte from the liquid sodium. The cell e.m.f., calculated by assuming this carbon flux to be equal to the carbon flux by diffusion through the steel barrier to the liquid sodium, agrees within the uncertainty limits of the calculation, to the measured e.m.f.
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References
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Aksaranan, C., Morris, D.R. Irreversible behaviour of an electrochemical device for the monitoring of carbon in liquid sodium. J Appl Electrochem 2, 309–313 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00615278
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00615278