Electrochemical dissolution behavior of conductive TiCxO1–x solid solutions

Conductive TiC x O 1– x solid solutions were prepared by carbothermic reduction of titanium dioxide. Studies were focused on the possibility of electrochemically dissolving TiC x O 1– x in NaCl–KCl molten salt. The tail-gas from the anode was monitored during the electrolysis. It was discovered that carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gases were generated, with the process being dependent upon the consumption of the TiC x O 1– x solid solution anode materials. Furthermore, a series of electrochemical methods was used to investigate the valence state of titanium ions dissolved into molten salt when electrolyzing TiC x O 1– x solid solutions. A significant result was that titanium ion species dissolved from the TiC x O 1– x solid solutions, and this is changed between Ti 2+ and Ti 3+ depending on the electrochemically dissolving potentials. The significant result discovered in this paper will be potentially beneficial in the preparation of high-purity titanium by electrorefining TiC x O 1– x solid solutions.