Electro-deoxidation behavior of solid SeO2 in a low-temperature molten salt

In this work, a low-temperature electro-deoxidation strategy of solid SeO2 was proposed for the first time in neutral NaCl–AlCl3 molten salt. Based on thermodynamic and electrochemical means, the deoxidation of SeO2 was confirmed to be a two-step two-electron process. Besides, the electro-deoxidation products and their morphology evolution processes were revealed along with the change of potential. It is hoped that the deep understanding of preparing metal Se by direct electrolytic reduction can offer key insights into short-process and green metallurgy of other characteristic scattered metals.