화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol.165, No.3, D98-D106, 2018
Uranium Dendritic Morphology in the Electrorefining: Influences of Temperature and Current Density
The aim of this work is to systematically explore the influence of temperature and initial current density on uranium electrorefining and deposit morphology in the LiCl-KCl-UCl3 melt. CV tests were conducted to compare the electrochemical behaviors of U(III) on STS andWelectrode at different temperatures. The influence of temperature on uranium deposition and morphology is presented and compared. High temperature can lead to the fast recovery of uranium and facilitate the formation of big uranium dendrites, whilst the low temperature can hinder this formation. Galvanostatic and potentiostatic methods were conducted and compared with respect to different diameters of stainless steel (STS) electrode. The change of STS electrode diameter can alter the deposition rate of uranium; a decent ratio of 1/22 for electrode diameter to electrolysis cell is suggested in our three tests. In addition, the initial current density can highly influence the morphology of uranium deposits regardless the electrochemical techniques. High-current density will lead to the deposition of large-scale and multi-dimensional uranium dendrites, whereas low current density will promote the formation of the needle and belt-like uranium. (C) 2018 The Electrochemical Society.