Non-contact gaseous microplasma electrode as anode for electrodeposition of metal and metal alloy in molten salt

Microplasma based on glow discharge could act as a non-contact gaseous electrode and has attracted much attention in both fundamental research and application. Herein, with microplasma as the anode,the electrodeposition process of a series of metal and metal alloys in molten salt has been systemically studied. Four metal cations with different valence states, silver(Ag~+), nickel(Ni^(2+)), copper(Cu^(2+)), and iron(Fe^(3+)), could all be reduced on the solid cathode with high current efficiency and the corresponding metal products were of high purity. The electrodeposition of aluminum-lanthanum(Al-Ln) alloy on the aluminum cathode was also successfully carried out with microplasma as the anode, and the same alloy was obtained by using the conventional anode electrode. These results indicated that microplasma anode based on non-contact direct-current(DC) glow discharge is a promising electrode to be applied in molten salt electrolysis.