Enhanced preparation of dendritic metallic vanadium in recyclable NaCl–KCl–VCl2 molten salt by V2CO electrolysis

A promising method for the preparation of pure metallic vanadium via V2CO anode electrolysis was proposed and confirmed. The simple and controllable synthesis of a molten chloride salt containing VCl2 by an in-situ reaction between VCl3 and metallic vanadium was verified through thermodynamic analysis and experiments. NaCl–KCl–VCl2 molten salt exhibited excellent recycling performance and could be repetitively used to prepare metallic vanadium by V2CO electrolysis. The V2+ ions remained in the molten salt after electrolysis. The electrolysis conditions, such as the cathode diameter, current density, V2+ ion concentration, and temperature, were optimised to maximise the current efficiency. Electrolysis was also simulated to reveal the regulatory mechanism. The highest current efficiency was 85