Porous tubular oxide precursors have been fabricated from the ZrO2 powder and its mixture with the Nb2O5 powder, and directly metallised to pure Zr or the Zr−2.5Nb Zircaloy tubes through electrochemical reduction and deoxygenation that induces in situ consolidation or sintering of the metallized tubes in molten CaCl2 at ∼900 °C. This new process is simple, fast, and low in energy consumption, promising a new technology for the fabrication of zirconium/Zircaloy tubes, which are the crucial materials in nuclear reactors and chemical plants. Also reported in this paper is the mechanism of the electrochemical process, correlating the cyclic voltammogram of ZrO2 powder in a metallic cavity electrode with the morphological and compositional analyses of the products from potentiostatic electrolysis of porous ZrO2 pellets.

Although, in the carbon family, graphite is the most thermodynamically stable allotrope, conversion of other carbon allotropes, even amorphous carbons, into graphite is extremely hard. We report a simple electrochemical route for the graphitization of amorphous carbons through cathodic polarization in molten CaCl at temperatures of about 1100 K, which generates porous graphite comprising petaloid nanoflakes. This nanostructured graphite allows fast and reversible intercalation/deintercalation of anions, promising a superior cathode material for batteries. In a Pyr TFSI ionic liquid, it exhibits a specific discharge capacity of 65 and 116 mAh g at a rate of 1800 mA g when charged to 5.0 and 5.25 V vs. Li/Li , respectively. The capacity remains fairly stable during cycling and decreases by only about 8 % when the charge/discharge rate is increased to 10000 mA g during cycling between 2.25 and 5.0 V.

Although, in the carbon family,graphite is the most thermodynamically stable allotrope,c onversion of other carbon allotropes,e ven amorphous carbons,i nto graphite is extremely hard. We report as imple electrochemical route for the graphitization of amorphous carbons through cathodic polarization in molten CaCl 2 at temperatures of about 1100 K, which generates porous graphite comprising petaloid nanoflakes.This nanostructured graphite allows fast and reversible intercalation/deintercalation of anions,p romising as uperior cathode material for batteries.I naPyr 14 TFSI ionic liquid, it exhibits aspecific discharge capacity of 65 and 116 mAh g À1 at ar ate of 1800 mA g À1 when charged to 5.0 and 5.25 Vv s. Li/ Li + ,r espectively.T he capacity remains fairly stable during cycling and decreases by only about 8% when the charge/ discharge rate is increased to 10000 mA g À1 during cycling between 2.25 and 5.0 V.Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under http://dx.