Electrochemical studies based on the extraction of Zr on Cu electrode in the LiCl-KCl molten salt

Abstract The electrochemical behaviour of Zr(Ⅳ) ions in LiCl-KCl molten salt solutions was investigated via different electrochemical techniques on W-inert and Cu-active electrodes. It was established that the electrochemical reduction process on inert electrode proceeds in two consecutive stages. The composition of Cu-Zr intermetallic compounds formed on an active copper electrode was determined, and the specific thermodynamic characteristics of the formed intermetallic compounds were calculated. The progressive nucleation of Zr was determined based on the comparison between experimental results and theoretical values of the two nucleation models. Finally, the metallic Zr and Cu5Zr alloy were successfully extracted from the molten salt via potentiostatic electrolysis.