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Electrochemical co-reduction of holmium and magnesium ions in eutectic LiCl–KCl salts

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Abstract

The electrochemical co-reduction of Ho(III) and Mg(II) ions was investigated on Mo electrode in eutectic LiCl–KCl salts at temperature of 773 K using various electrochemical techniques. Cyclic voltammogram (CV) and square wave voltammogram exhibit three reduction peaks corresponding to the reduction of Ho(III) on pre-deposited Mg electrode, whose potentials are more positive than that of Ho on Mo electrode because of the formation of Mg-Ho intermetallic compounds by co-reduction of Ho(III) and Mg(II) ions. Meanwhile, chronopotentiometry and open-circuit chronopotentiometry were used to explore the electrochemical formation of Mg–Ho intermetallics. Mg–Ho alloys were produced by galvanostatic electrolysis at the current of 1.5 A for different electrolysis durations. Ho5Mg24, HoMg2 and HoMg intermetallic compounds were acquired and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results indicate that Mg–Ho intermetallic compounds, Ho5Mg24, HoMg2 and HoMg, could be prepared by molten salts electrolysis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11575047, 11675044, 21790373, 21876034 and 11875116), the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91326113 and 91226201) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. HEUCF201849).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China

    Ji Wang, Mei Li, Wei Han, Zhi-Yixiong Liu, Xiao-Guang Yang, Yang Sun & Mi-Lin Zhang

  2. Institute of Nuclear Energy and Safety, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China

    Mei Li, Wei Han, Xiao-Guang Yang, Yang Sun & Mi-Lin Zhang

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  1. Ji Wang
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  2. Mei Li
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  3. Wei Han
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  4. Zhi-Yixiong Liu
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Correspondence to Wei Han.

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Wang, J., Li, M., Han, W. et al. Electrochemical co-reduction of holmium and magnesium ions in eutectic LiCl–KCl salts. Rare Met. 41, 1394–1402 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-018-1157-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-018-1157-0

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