J Mater Sci Technol ›› 2008, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (06): 915-920.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Electrochemical Deposition and Nucleation of Aluminum on Tungsten in Aluminum Chloride-Sodium Chloride Melts

Zhaowen WANG, Hongmin KAN, Zhongning SHI, Bingliang GAO, Yungang BAN, Xianwei HU   

  1. School of Materials and Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China
  • Received:2008-08-19 Revised:2008-10-16 Online:2008-11-28 Published:2009-10-10
  • Contact: Zhaowen WANG

Abstract: Electrochemical deposition and nucleation of aluminum on tungsten electrode from AlCl3-NaCl melts were studied by cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry and chronoamperometry. Cyclic voltammetry and chronopo-tentiometry analyses showed that Al (III) was reduced at 200℃ in two consecutive steps in an electrolyte of molten AlCl3-NaCl system with a composition 52:48 molar ratio. The current-time characteristics of nucleation aluminum on tungsten showed a strong dependence on overpotentials. Chronoamperometry showed that the deposition process of aluminum on tungsten was controlled by an instantaneous nucleation with a hemispherical diffusion-controlled growth mechanism. The results could lead to a better understanding of the AlCl3-NaCl melt system that has technological importance in electrodeposition of metals as well as in rechargeable batteries.

Key words: Electrochemical deposition, Aluminum-sodium chloride melts, Aluminum, Tungsten, Nucleation