Electrochemical Monitoring of Ni Corrosion Induced by Water in Eutectic LiCl-KCl

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2018. The corrosion of metallic nickel was studied in eutectic LiCl-KCl at 773 K while bubbling argon into the salt with a fixed concentration of H 2 O. The corrosion process was monitored electrochemically by using continuous open circuit potentiometry (OCP) and intermittent cyclic voltammetry (CV). The OCP of the Ni rod increased with time while H 2 O was bubbling into the molten salt. CV measurement results were consistent with a proposed mechanism which results in formation of NiCl 2 based on matching the potentials of observed oxidation/reduction peaks. OCP reached a maximum plateau after prolonged bubbling, likely due to hydrolysis of the NiCl 2 . No solubility for NiO was measured in the eutectic LiCl-KCl, thus Ni concentrations in the salt stop rising once there is a balance between NiCl 2 generation from corrosion and dissipation via hydrolysis.