Electrochemical formation of Dy alloy films in a molten LiCl-KCl-DyCl3 system

Abstract

As to the electrochemical formation of Dy-Ni alloy films in a molten LiCl-KCl-DyCl3 system at 700 K, the growth of DyNi2 film and behavior of anodic dissolution of Dy from the formed DyNi2 film were investigated. The DyNi2 films were formed by potentiostatic electrolysis at 0.55, 0.62 and 0.70 V with Ni electrodes. The growth rates of DyNi2 films are higher at less noble potential, i.e., 0.47 8m min-1 at 0.55 V, 0.32 8m min-1 at 0.62 V and 0.14 8m min-1 at 0.70 V. From RBS analysis, it was suggested that the Dy-Ni alloy film was formed for 10 or 30 s during electrodepositing Dy at 0.30 V with a Ni electrode. Moreover, the growth rate of Dy-Ni alloy film was faster than that of Dy-Fe alloy film. Anodic electrolysis of the formed DyNi2 film with thickness of 15 μm was conducted at 0.90 V, 1.30 V and 1.90 V, respectively. The formed DyNi2 were transformed to other phases, i.e., DyNi3, DyNi5 and Ni, by selective anodic dissolution of Dy. The transformed Ni film was about 10 μm in thickness and had a porous structure with a pore diameter of 1∼2 μm.