Electrodeposition and dissolution of aluminium in ambient temperature molten salt system aluminium chloride n-butylpyridinium chloride

Abstract The techniques of chronopotentiometry and current-reversal chronopotentiometry were employed to investigate the mechanism of the aluminium deposition and dissolution reaction in the AlCl3/n-butylpyridinium chloride melt. The system was studied over a range of melt compositions and temperatures and at both glassy carbon and platinum electrodes. Results indicate that the aluminium deposition reaction is a quasi-reversible process with a value for αna = 0.48. At a platinum electrode, formation of a Pt-Al alloy was found to occur in the initial stages of the reaction. The current reversal chronopotentiometric study showed that aluminium undergoes a slow corrosion reaction which is most likely due to impurities present in the melt.