Electrochemical Recovery of Sb, Te, and In in Choline Chloride-Ethylene Glycol DES Electrolyte

Abstract

Choline Chloride-Ethylene Glycol DES mixture (ethaline) is considered a green solvent and is one of the most popular DESs to combine with electrochemical recovery processes due to its superior electrochemical properties compared to other DES systems. In this work, electrochemical behaviour of antimony, tellurium, and indium in the ethaline system has been investigated to evaluate if this electrolyte media is suitable for electrochemical recovery. The metal chlorides SbCl3, TeCl4, and InCl3 were added to model ethaline solutions at 10 mM concentrations. Electrochemical investigations were carried out at 60 °C by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and potentiostatic electrolysis using a three-electrode setup. Metal deposits were investigated with SEM–EDS. All three metals were found to deposit within the electrochemical limits of the ethaline electrolyte, the cathodic deposition of the different metals appears in the order Te, then Sb, then In most cathodic.