Abstract:
The electrolytic separation of actinides(An) from fission products(FPs) on solid Al cathode is one of the most promising pyrochemical reprocessing processes. In this work, the electrochemical behaviour of Pu
3+ on active Al solid cathode was studied through the transient electrochemical method. Based on the results of cyclic voltammetry(CV) and square wave voltammetry(SWV), Pu
3+ can be reduced into alloy through a onestep threeelectrons transfer process on Al cathode, and the reaction is irreversible. The relationship between the reduction potential of the alloy formed by Pu
3+ with Al and temperature is E
Θ,*(Pu
3+/PuAln)(vs. Cl
-/Cl
2)=-2.944+9.84×10
-4T. Five Pu alloys(involving Pu
3Al, PuAl, PuAl
2, PuAl
3, and PuAl
4) are formed according to the results of open circuit chronopotentiometry(OCP) together with phase diagrams of Pu-Al. Furthermore, the formation Gibbs free energies of PuAl
4 at different temperature are calculated.