ELECTROCHEMICAL INCORPORATION OF LITHIUM INTO CADMIUM FROM PROPYLENE CARBONATE SOLUTIONS

Cathodic incorporation of lithium into cadmium from a 0.5 M LiClO4 sol ution in propylene carbonate is studied. The lithium-containing compou nds that form in the process are identified on the basis of potential delays in the cathodic and anodic chronopotentiograms and the phase eq uilibrium diagram of the alloy; the compounds are presumed to be LiCd3 , LiCd, and Li3Cd. The results of a chronoamperometric study conducted in a wide range of potentials are used to determine portions of the k inetic j vs. t dependences that are satisfactorily described in terms of the model of the slow nonsteady-state diffusion of lithium atoms in the surface layer of the alloy. The diffusion coefficients for Lithiu m are calculated, and it is shown that their potential dependence plot ted in the semilogarithmic coordinates is linear, exactly as it was pr eviously described in the Literature for other systems. According to t he calculations, changes in the phase composition of the Li-Cd compoun ds that consecutively form in the system have no significant effect on the diffusion coefficient.