Compound formation in lanthanide-alkali metal halide systems

Abstract

The phase diagrams of trivalent lanthanide-alkali metal halide systems range from simple eutectic systems to systems with one or several congruently or incongruently melting compounds. Using both literature information and the authors' extensive experimental results, the LnX3-MX binary mixture phase diagrams were screened in terms of the IPMz/IPLn3z ratio (IPi: zi/ri; zi: ionic charge; ri: ionic radius; Ln: lanthanide, X: halide and M: alkali metal). A similar approach was conducted on the divalent LnX2-MX lanthanide-alkali metal halide phase diagrams ranging from simple eutectic to one or more congruently melting compounds. Lanthanides being widely used as simulants of actinides, this classification can constitute a useful predictive tool for those still unexplored systems. © 2013 FLOGEN Star Outreach.