Assessment of MgHf4P6O24 Electroceramic Oxide Electrolyte in High-Temperature Electrochemical Sensor for Sensing Mg in Non-Ferrous Alloys

Abstract

The chemical synthesis of MgHf4P6O24 multicomponent nanostructured ceramic oxide electrolyte was achieved using a modified sol-gel chemical process by substituting the tetravalent Zr4+ B-site in MgZr4P6O24 solid-state electrolyte [1, 2] with tetravalent Hf4+ ceramic oxide resulting in a considerably low activation energy (Ea = 0.74 ± 0.04 eV), promising ionic conductivity (4.52 x 10-4 Scm-1 at 747oC), electroceramic MgHf4P6O24 solid-state electrolyte.MgHf4P6O24 solid-state electroceramic oxide electrolyte was calcined at a relatively low temperature range of 800-900oC, the calcined nanopowders were pressed into pellets of 13mm diameter (Ø) and 3.8mm thickness with a uniaxial steel die at 5kN compressive pressure and sintered at 1000 ≤ T/oC ≤ 1550 temperature range. However, 1300oC was adopted as the sintering temperature in this study haven achieved optimum density and stable sample composition at that temperature. X-ray diffraction reveals a good crystallinity of the electroceramic oxide with an average crystallite size of 20±2 nm and 42±2 nm at 800oC and 900oC, respectively, indicating that crystallite size increases as a function of calcination temperature, which is very consistent with the simultaneous TGA-DSC thermal analysis profiles and confirmed using HR-TEM. The refined crystallographic data and ionic conductivity properties of the novel MgHf4P6O24 ceramic oxide solid-state electrolyte was reported for the first time in this study. SEM-EDS characterisation technique was used for determining both structural and compositional homogeneity. The sintered MgHf4P6O24 electroceramic oxide electrolyte was characterised for their electrical and thermodynamic properties thereby identifying reliable ionic and transport properties of the electroceramic oxide; The average transport number for Mg2+-cations in MgHf4P6O24 electroceramic oxide electrolyte measured as a function of Mg concentration in molten Al is 0.84±0.03. The ionic conductivity and thermodynamic analysis of the novel solid-state electroceramic oxide electrolyte in this study was compared with those of MgZr4P6O24 electrolyte [3], showing novel improvement in the trend of the ionic conductivity and thermodynamic properties of both electroceramic oxide electrolytes.Relying on the structural, chemical stability and ionic conductivity data characterised in this study, solid-state electrochemical Mg-sensor was designed and fabricated, then testing of the high-temperature Mg-sensor in molten Al alloys by the electrochemical method was achieved as shown in Figure 1 [3]. The novel high-temperature solid-state Mg-sensor was fabricated using the novel high conducting Mg2+-cation solid-state electroceramic oxide electrolyte characterised in this study by incorporating a biphasic powder mixture of MgCr2O4+Cr2O3 solid-state ceramic reference electrode in air, showing promising trend after successfully sensing Mg dissolved in molten Al alloys at 700±5oC. A linear dependence of sensor voltage on the logarithm of Mg concentration was obtained. The thermodynamic activity of Mg in molten Al alloy shows a rather negative deviation from Raoult's law. Solid-state MgHf4P6O24 electroceramic oxide electrolyte has useful potential applications in solid-state Mg-sensors during refining, virgin metals alloying and scrap metal recycling for the benefit of our environment and depleting climate.