Influence of Cesium Chloride on the Electrochemical Behavior of Cerium Chloride in Molten LiCl-KCl Eutectic

Investigating electrochemical behavior of lanthanides in molten salt systems is of significant interest for advancing pyroprocessing. This study aims to elucidate the impact of Cs + addition on the electrochemical behavior of CeCl 3 in molten LiCl-KCl eutectic. Several electrochemical methods, including square wave voltammetry (SWV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CP), open circuit potential (OCP), and linear polarization (LP), were employed to determine the electron transfer number, reversibility, diffusion coefficient, equilibrium potential, and exchange current density. The results show that Cs⁺ has no significant effect on the electron transfer number or the reversibility of the Ce 3+ /Ce reaction. However, the equilibrium potential of Ce 3+ /Ce redox couple shifts negatively with increasing Cs⁺ concentration. Moreover, Cs⁺ led to a reduction of approximately 19.3% in the diffusion coefficient (determined by CP) and an 11.1% decrease in the exchange current density. The relationship between viscosity and diffusion coefficient was further elucidated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.