Electrochemical extraction of strontium from molten salts using reactive zincand aluminum electrodes

Herein, the electrochemical behaviors of Sr on inert W electrode and reactive Zn/Al electrodes were systematically investig-ated in LiCl–KCl–SrCl2 molten salts at 773 K using various electrochemical methods. The chemical reaction potentials of Li and Sr on re-active Zn/Al electrodes were determined. We observed that Sr could be extracted by decreasing the activity of the deposited metal Sr onthe reactive electrode, although the standard reduction potential of Sr（II）/Sr was more negative than that of Li（I）/Li. The electrochemicalextraction products of Sr on reactive Zn and Al electrodes were Zn13Sr and Al4Sr, respectively, with no codeposition of Li observed.Based on the density functional theory calculations, both Zn13Sr and Al4Sr were identified as stable intermetallic compounds with Zn-/Al-rich phases. In LiCl–KCl molten salt containing 3wt% SrCl2, the coulombic efficiency of Sr in the Zn electrode was ～54%. The depolar-ization values for Sr on Zn and Al electrodes were 0.864 and 0.485 V, respectively, exhibiting a stronger chemical interaction between Znand Sr than between Al and Sr. This study suggests that using reactive electrodes can facilitate extraction of Sr accumulated while elec-trorefining molten salts, thereby enabling the purification and reuse of the salt and decreasing the volume of the nuclear waste.