Electrochemical behavior and electronic absorption spectra of uranium trivalent ions in molten LiCl–CsCl mixtures

The redox reactions and coordination circumstances of uranium trivalent ions in molten LiCl–CsCl mixtures were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and spectrophotometry. The formal redox potential, E°′(U3+|U), in LiCl–CsCl mixtures with the CsCl mole fraction of 0.2 was more positive than that in LiCl melt. The CsCl system showed the most negative E°′(U3+|U). The electronic absorption spectra of U3+ in LiCl–CsCl mixtures showed that the intensities of absorption peaks decreased with the increase of CsCl mole fraction. The oscillator strength of the hypersensitive f–f transition, f, decreased with the increase of CsCl mole fraction.