Solutions of uranium (IV) in acidic
AlCl3‐normalNaCl
melts
false(52–70 normalmole percent AlCl3false)
at 175°C were prepared by dissolving uranium (IV) oxide or chloride. The electrochemistry of uranium (IV) in these melts, investigated by pulse polarography and cyclic voltammetry, corresponds to two reversible one‐electron reactions. For the U(IV)/U(III) redox couple, the reaction is given byUClx)(4−x++e−→U3++xCl−where
3≥x≥1
, the lower values of
x
being found for the most acidic melts. Thus, uranium (IV) exists in solution as
UCl3+
,
UCl22+
, and
UCl3+
. For the U(V)/U(IV) redox couple, the reaction is written asUCly)(5−y++e−→UClx)(4−x++)(y−xCl−where
false(y−xfalse)=3
over almost the entire pCl range covered in this work. Therefore, the uranium (V) species in solution are formulated as
UCl6−
,
UCl5
, and
UCl4+
. However, since some oxide impurities are probably always present in molten chloroaluminates, the existence of a
UOClyfalse(3−yfalse)+
species cannot be totally excluded.