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40 Xiao Y. Yan and Derek J. Fray improvements of electrolysis efficiency and product purities, as well as elimination of CO/CO2 emissions. 5.3. The Challenges and Opportunities for Materials Processing Much of this review has concentrated on using the molten salt electrolysis to extract metals from their oxides but, perhaps, the most exciting prospects lie in the field of high technology. There are many thousand references to extraordinary properties of carbon nanotubes which describe the mechanical, thermal and electronic properties of these materials. With respect to the mechanical properties, there are very substantial businesses that could benefit from these materials such as reinforce polymers. However, at the present time (2009), the world production of carbon nanotubes was only a few hundred tonnes which is insufficient to meet any bulk demand. Carbon nanotubes are usually made a catalytic route whereby a hydrocarbon is cracked, in the presence of a catalyst, to form nanotubes. The rate of reaction is relatively slow and yield of carbon nanotubes from the hydrocarbon is low. On the other hand, the molten salt route, described earlier, is fast and highly efficient in that about 80 % of the starting graphite ends up as multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The price of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, produced catalytically, seems to vary from $1000 to $12000 per kg. The cost of graphite is around 1$ per kg and the electrical energy for the production of the carbon nanotubes is $1 per kg so that the cost of producing carbon nanotubes by the electrochemical route must be far less, perhaps by two orders of magnitude. Adoption of the molten salt route may lead to a wider usage of carbon nanotubes in materials. The other opportunity offered by this route is to produce carbon nanotubes filled with metals. It is believed that carbon nanotubes filled with iron, cobalt or nickel could be used for data storage. However, these are not readily made by a molten salt route whereas tin and aluminium filled tubes are possible. These could find application as anode materials in lithium ion batteries where the capacities of the metals to combine with lithium are much greater than with the conventional graphite anodes. Preliminary results show that for tin filled anodes have a much larger capacity than the conventional anodes and this capacity is maintained over hundreds of charge-discharge cycles. As well as bulk carbides and silicides, it is also possible to make nanosized particles and, in the case of tungsten carbide, these could find application as catalysts and in hard metals which are used as tool bits. The effectiveness of the tool bit is inversely proportional to the size of the carbide particles. Overall, as well as improving existing processes, there are excellent possibilities for making a major contribution in the preparation of materials for high technology products. REFERENCES [1] Grjotheim, K. and Welch, B.J. (1980). Aluminium smelting technology – A pure and applied approach, Aluminium-Verlag GMBH, Dusseldorf.. [2] Bard, A.J. and Faulkner, L.R. (2001). Electrochemical methods – Fundamentals and applications, John Wiley & Sons, INC., New York, p. 4, p. 418.PDF Image | MOLTEN SALT ELECTROLYSIS
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