In this study, the electrochemical behavior of Sm on the binary liquid Al-Ga cathode in the LiCl-KCl molten salt system is investigated. First, the co-reduction process of Sm(III)-Al(III), Sm(III)-Ga(III), and Sm(III)-Ga(III)-Al(III) on the W electrode (inert) were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), square-wave voltammetry (SWV) and open circuit potential (OCP) methods, respectively. It was identified that Sm(III) can be co-reduced with Al(III) or Ga(III) to form AlzSmy or GaxSmy intermetallic compounds. Subsequently, the under-potential deposition of Sm(III) at the Al, Ga, and Al-Ga active cathode was performed to confirm the formation of Sm-based intermetallic compounds. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analyses indicated that Ga3Sm and Ga6Sm intermetallic compounds were formed on the Mo grid electrode (inert) during the potentiostatic electrolysis in LiCl-KCl-SmCl3-AlCl3- GaCl3 melt, while only Ga6Sm intermetallic compound was generated on the Al-Ga alloy electrode during the galvanostatic electrolysis in LiCl-KCl-SmCl3 melt. The electrolysis results revealed that the interaction between Sm and Ga was predominant in the Al-Ga alloy electrode, with Al only acting as an additive to lower the melting point.

1. Introduction
2. Experimental
    2.1 Experimental Materials and Melt Preparation
    2.2 Electrochemical Apparatus and Electrodes
    2.3 Preparation and Characterization of CathodicDeposits
    2.4 Calculation of Phase Diagrams
3. Results and Discussion
    3.1 The Sm-Ga-Al Ternary Phase Diagram
    3.2 Electrochemical Behavior Analysis
    3.3 Preparation and Characterization of theSm-Ga and Sm-Ga-Al Alloys
4. Conclusions
REFERENCES

• Chang-Mei Ye(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences/Jiangxi University of Science and Technology)
• Shi-Lin Jiang(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Ya-Lan Liu(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Kai Xu(Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Shao-Hua Yang(Jiangxi University of Science and Technology) Corresponding Author
• Ke-Ke Chang(Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Hao Ren(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Zhi-Fang Chai(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences/Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Wei-Qun Shi(Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) Corresponding Author