Electrochemical behavior and electrolytic preparation of lead in eutectic NaCl−KCl melts

A novel molten salt extraction process consisting of chlorination roasting and molten salt electrolysis was proposed to develop a more efficient and environmental friendly technology for recovering lead from spent lead acid batteries(LABs).The feasibility of this process was firstly assessed based on thermodynamics fundamentals.The electrochemical behavior of Pb(II)on a tungsten electrode in the eutectic NaCl−KCl melts at 700℃ was then investigated in detail by transient electrochemical techniques.The results indicated that the reduction reaction of Pb(II)in NaCl−KCl melts was a one-step process exchanging two electrons,and it was determined to be a quasi-reversible diffusion-controlled process.Finally,potentiostatic electrolysis was carried out at−0.6 V(vs Ag/AgCl)in the NaCl−KCl−PbCl2 melts,and the obtained cathodic product was identified as pure Pb by X-ray diffraction analysis.This investigation demonstrated that it is practically feasible to produce pure Pb metal by electrochemical reduction of PbCl2 in eutectic NaCl−KCl melts,and has provided important fundamental for the further study on lead recovery from spent LABs via molten salt extraction process.

Electrochemical reduction mechanism of Zn^(2+)in molten NaCl-KCl eutectic

A process comprising selective chlorination and molten salt electrolysis was proposed to develop an efficient and environmental-friendly technology for zinc recovery from metallurgical dusts.The theoretical feasibility of this technology was firstly estimated based on thermodynamic fundamentals.Subsequently,the electrochemical behavior of Zn^(2+)on tungsten electrode was investigated in molten NaCl-KCl eutectic at 973 K by many electrochemical transient methods.The results showed that the reduction of Zn^(2+)on tungsten electrode was found to be a one-step process exchanging two electrons with the initial reduction potential of-0.74 V(vs Ag/AgCl),and the electrode process was considered as quasi-reversible and controlled by diffusion.The diffusion coefficient of Zn^(2+)ions in the melts was determined in the order of 10^(-5)cm^(2)/s.Finally,the electrolytic preparation of zinc was carried out by potentiostatic electrolysis in molten NaCl-KCl-ZnCl_(2)eutectic at-1.6 V(vs Ag/AgCl).Spheroidic granular metal with silver-white luster was attained after electrolysis for 9.5 h,and identified as pure Zn.The present study confirms that it is practically feasible to extract pure zinc metal by direct electrolysis of ZnCl_(2)in molten NaCl-KCl eutectic,and provides a valuable theoretical reference for the efficient recovery of zinc from metallurgical dusts.

Redox behavior of indium in molten chlorides

An electrochemical study on the redox behavior of indium in the eutectic LiCl-KCl system at 450 ℃ was carried out with the transient techniques of cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry on an inert molybdenum electrode. The reduction of In(Ⅲ) was found to be a two-step process involving In(Ⅲ)/In(Ⅰ) and In(Ⅰ)/In couples at the potentials of about-0.4 and-0.8 V versus Ag/AgCl, respectively. The redox mechanism was further confirmed by the theoretical evaluation of the number of transferred electrons based on cyclic voltammetry and characterizations of the precipitates generated by the potentiostatic electrolysis. The diffusion coefficients of indium ions in the eutectic LiCl-KCl melt at 450 ℃ were estimated by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry. The results obtained through the two methods are in fair agreement, delivering an average diffusion coefficient of approximately 1.8×10^(-5)cm^(2)/s for In(Ⅲ), and 1.4×10^(-4)cm^(2)/s for In(Ⅰ).

Template-free preparation of porous Co microfibers from spent lithium-ion batteries as a promising microwave absorber

In order to take full advantage of the secondary resources,in this paper,we reported a template-free process to prepare porous Co microfibers from spent lithiumion batteries(LIBs).First,the waste LiCoO_(2) powders were leached by oxalic acid at a suitable temperature,and rodlike cobalt oxalate powders were obtained.Second,the porous Co microfibers were prepared by using the cobalt oxalate as precursors through a thermal decomposition at420 ℃ under nitrogen atmosphere.The prepared Co microfibers possess diameters of 1-2 μm,and each microfiber consists of small particles with size of100-200 nm.The Co microfibers(25 wt%)/paraffin composite exhibited excellent microwave absorption performance.When the sample thickness is 4.5 mm,the reflection losses reach-36.14 and-38.20 dB at 4.16 and 17.60 GHz,respectively,and the effective bandwidth reaches up to 5.52 GHz.This indicates that the Co microfibers can be used as a promising microwave absorber.Therefore,this paper demonstrates a novel process to make a high value-added product through recycling from the spent lithium-ion batteries.In addition,it is advantageous to eliminate the hazard of spent lithium-ion batteries and electromagnetic radiation to environment and human health.