Electrochemical reduction of Gd(III) and Nd(III) on reactive cathode material in molten fluoride media

The electrochemical reduction of two lanthanides (neodymium Nd and gadolinium Gd) was investigated in the 800–950 °C temperature range on nickel and copper electrodes. These materials react with lanthanides (Ln) to form intermetallic compounds. The formation mechanism of the alloys was determined by coupling electrochemical techniques and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) after electrolyses runs; this also allowed the identification of the binary compounds formed. In addition, from the electrochemical results, we calculated the Gibbs energies of Nd/Ni, Gd/Ni, Gd/Cu and Nd/Cu.