Preparation of CeNi2 intermetallic compound by direct electroreduction of solid CeO2-2NiO in molten LiCl

Abstract Electrochemical reduction of solid CeO 2 -2NiO to produce CeNi 2 was conducted in molten LiCl at 650 °C. The electrochemical reduction behaviors of NiO, CeO 2 and their mixture were investigated by cyclic voltammetric measurements. Moreover, a series of electrolysis experiments of different electrolysis cell voltages and electrolysis duration were performed to evaluate the reduction mechanism of the mixed oxides pellet cathode as well as the energy efficiency of the process. Homogeneous CeNi 2 was prepared by electrolysis at the constant cell voltage of 3.5 V with a graphite anode. The results demonstrated that the NiO was preferentially reduced to Ni and it subsequently promoted the reduction of CeO 2 . The electrolysis energy consumption for preparation of the CeNi 2 could be as low as 6.5 kWh/kg-CeNi 2 .