Production of elemental boron by electrolysis and investigation of electrochemical behavior of boron in ionic liquid

Boron is a metalloid chemical element that never exists as a free elemental form in nature. However, there are many ways to the production of elemental boron (B). This thesis is divided into two parts: In the first part, a new electrolysis melt reactor design for large-scale and low-temperature production amorphous elemental boron powders equipped with a rotating star cathode electrode in a graphite crucible, which reduces the homogenization time of boron salts, is reported. The electrochemical deposition system has been designed to produce high-purity amorphous elemental boron up to 25 kg capacity for a different combination of various salts in different percentage ranges in accordance with commercial production. One of the innovations of the system, the star-type iron cathode is rotated bidirectionally and positioned up and down when desired. After the design of the melted reactor, amorphous elemental boron powders has produced using certain proportions of B2O3-KCl-KBF4. The morphology and chemical composition of the highest purity B has characterized using XRD, SEM, EDS, and FTIR analysis. In the second part, a boron based ionic liquid was produced and fully characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy analysis. We further investigated the electrochemical reduction behavior B in boron-based ionic liquid at room temperature and evaluated the kinetic parameters of the electroreduction process. When the electrochemical behavior of boron based ionic liquid on platinum and iron electrodes was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), it was observed that boron could be reduced. Ultimately, this new insight into the B electrodeposition process brings us one important step closer to the reduction of boron at room temperature, thus providing a sustainable approach that provides an original alternative to high-temperature molten salt electrolysis.