Elektrokemisk korrosionsanalys av legeringar är en essentiell del av den större materialanalysen som måste utföras när en legerings lämplighet för en viss applikation evalueras. Nickelbaserade legeringar är kända för sin utmärkta korrosionsresistans, och de Ni-Cr-Mo-baserade legeringarna 59, 625, och 718 är också så kallade superlegeringar. Superlegeringar karaktäriseras med att legeringarna behåller sina mekaniska, termiska, och korrosion egenskaper även vid temperaturer nära smältpunkten. Den elektrokemiska korrosionsanalysen av legeringarna 59, 625, och 718 utfördes med OCP, cyklisk polarisation, samt EIS. Experimenten utfördes i en tre-elektrod elektrokemisk cell med en Ag/AgCl referenselektrod och en platina motelektrod, så väl som en Gamry Reference 600+ potentiostat. Detta arbete framhäver vikten att utföra cyklisk polarisation i korrosionsanalysen eftersom metod kan upptäcka viktiga skillnader mellan till synes liknande legeringar, vilket kunde ses vid jämförelsen av legering 718 med 625 och 59. EIS visas också vara en kraftfull analytisk verktyg genom sin förmåga att approximera verkliga elektrokemiska system genom att använda elektriska kretsar, så väl som EIS:s förmåga att användas som ett komplementärt analytiskt verktyg för att assistera i interpretationen av cyklisk polarisationsdata. / Electrochemical corrosion analysis of alloys forms an essential part of the larger material analysis procedure that needs to be performed when evaluating the feasibility of an alloy for a certain application. Nickel-based alloys are known for having excellent corrosion resistance, and the Ni-Cr-Mo-based alloys 59, 625, and 718 are also known as superalloys. Superalloys are characterized by the alloy maintaining its mechanical, thermal, and corrosion properties even at temperatures close to the melting point. The electrochemical corrosion analysis of alloys 59, 625, and 718 was performed with OCP, cyclic polarization, and EIS. The experiments made use of a three-electrode electrochemical cell with an Ag/AgCl reference electrode and a platinum counter electrode, as well as a Gamry Reference 600+ potentiostat. This work highlights the importance of performing cyclic polarization in the corrosion analysis since the method can reveal important differences in seemingly similar alloys, which was seen when comparing alloy 718 with 625 and 59. EIS is also shown to be a powerful analytical tool through the method's ability to approximate real electrochemical systems using electrical circuits, as well as the ability of EIS to be used as a complementary analytical tool to assist in interpreting cyclic polarization data.

<p>The principles of dye-sensitized solar cells were studied and are outlined in this thesis. An overview of the basic steps needed to create a DSC isfollowed by detailed experimental information on how to assemble the solar cells that were fabricated in this project. They were based on synthesizednanocrystalline ZnO thin films sensitized by chlorophyll a as well as isolated photopigments from spinach leaves. The nanocrystals werestudied using XRD, and it was confirmed that three different methods of synthesis resulted in ZnO crystals of a few nanometers. The solar cellswere assembled with Au electrodes in a sandwich configuration and their photovoltaic properties were measured. Overall light-to-electricity conversionwas low with the highest efficiency being 0.21 %. An astonishingly low efficiency of 0.0003 % was noted for a thin film which was not thermallytreated, and it is suggested that heat-treatment is of great importance. It was also found that photopigments from spinach can be extractedeasily and used as molecular sensitizer without any demanding purification steps.</p>

The chlorate process is very energy intensive and a major part of the production costs are for electrical energy. Since the electricity prices are constantly increasing and may also vary periodically, the chlorate plants may be forced to adjust their production rate to the price at each moment in order to minimise their costs. Variation of current load requires increased knowledge regarding the electrode behaviour in a wide current range. In this thesis, the aim was to study the impact of the electrolyte on the electrode reactions in order to reduce the energy consumption. The work has mainly been experimental and additionally mathematical modelling has been carried out. A wide current range has been investigated in order to increase the understanding of the phenomena and to obtain results useful for low-load operation during the periods of high electricity cost. To operate the anode as energy efficiently as possible, the anode potential should not exceed the critical potential (Ecr), where the slope of the anodic polarisation curve increases, most likely due to ruthenium(VIII)-formation, and where the side reaction of oxygen evolution increases. In this work, the influence of different electrolyte parameters on Ecr has been studied. It was shown that a higher chloride concentration and an increased temperature lowered Ecr, which was expected to increase the risk of exceeding Ecr. However, this was not observed due to a simultaneous favouring of the chloride oxidation. Hence it was concluded that the electrolyte parameters should be optimised so that the lowest possible anode potential is obtained, which would enable higher current densities without exceeding Ecr. A further conclusion is that the increased slope of the polarisation curve at Ecr was possibly related to the lower activity for chloride oxidation on ruthenium oxidised to ruthenium(VIII). At full-load operation, the cathode potential was shown to be rather independent of the electrolyte composition despite a large variation of electrolyte parameters. The cathode composition appears to be more critical than the electrolyte composition when aiming at reducing the energy consumption. A strategy to increase the cathode activity could be to in situ apply a catalytic film onto the electrode surface. Therefore, Y(III) was added to a chloride electrolyte in order to form a yttrium hydroxide film on the alkaline cathode surface during hydrogen evolution. The yttrium-hydroxide film activated reduction of water (hydrogen evolution) and hindered hypochlorite reduction, proton reduction and nitrate reduction. The inhibiting properties are important for the prevention of side reactions, which currently are avoided by reducing Cr(VI) of the electrolyte on the cathode, producing an inhibiting chromium-hydroxide film. The studies on Y(III) increase the expectations for finding alternatives to the toxic Cr(VI). The addition of chromate to the chlorate electrolyte gives a high cathodic current efficiency and chromate has buffering properties in the electrolyte. The role of the buffer has been investigated for the oxygen evolution from water (one possible anodic side reaction), as well as cathodic hydrogen evolution. Models have been developed for these systems to increase the understanding of the interaction between buffer, electrode reactions and mass transport; the results have been verified experimentally. The chromate buffer increased the limiting current significantly for the cathodic H+ reduction and the cathodic overpotential was reduced drastically at currents lower than the limited current. A too low overpotential could result in the cathodic protection being lost. The presence of chromate buffer increased the limiting current for the oxygen evolution from OH-. The modelling of these systems revealed that the homogeneous reactions connected to the electrode reactions were not in equilibrium at the electrode surface. Further, a good resolution of the interface at the electrode surface was crucial since the, for the electrode reactions, important buffering takes place in an nm-thick reaction layer. / Framställning av klorat är mycket energiintensiv och kräver stora mängder elenergi. Stigande elpriser, som dessutom ofta varierar under dygnet eller säsongsvis, gör att man vill reducera onödiga förluster samt ibland försöka anpassa produktionen så att man när elpriset är högt minskar den, för att sedan öka produktionen igen då elpriset sjunker. Denna flexibla drift kräver ny kunskap om hur elektroderna beter sig i ett större strömintervall än vad som tidigare varit av intresse. Målet med detta arbete var att, med fokus på elektrolytens betydelse, identifiera möjliga förbättringar för kloratprocessen och därmed minska energiförbrukningen. Studierna har i huvudsak varit experimentella men även matematisk modellering har använts. Ett brett strömintervall har undersökts för att bättre förstå fenomenen och för att även kunna använda resultaten då höga elpriser gör att man vill köra processen vid lägre laster än normalt. För att driften av anoden ska vara så energieffektiv som möjligt bör anodpotentialen inte överskrida den kritiska potentialen (Ecr), där den anodiska polarisationskurvan får en högre lutning (troligtvis pga Ru(VIII)-bildning) och bireaktionen syrgasutveckling ökar. I detta arbete har påverkan av olika elektrolytparametrar på Ecr undersökts. Det visade sig att en ökad kloridkoncentration och ökad temperatur sänkte Ecr. Trots att detta borde göra att Ecr lättare överskrids, blev inte detta fallet eftersom kloridoxidationen samtidigt gynnades. Slutsatsen blir därför att elektrolytparametrarna bör optimeras så att lägsta möjliga anodpotential uppnås, vilket då även gör att strömtätheten kan ökas utan att Ecr överskrids. Slutsatsen är vidare att polarisationskurvans högre lutning vid Ecr kan ha att göra med att rutenium oxiderat till rutenium(VIII) har lägre aktivitet för kloridoxidation. Vid full last visade sig katodens potential vara relativt oberoende av elektrolytsammansättningen trots att denna varierades kraftigt. Katodens sammansättning verkar vara viktigare att ta hänsyn till än elektrolytens för kunna åstadkomma en större energibesparing. Ett alternativ till att öka katodens aktivitet skulle vara att in-situ belägga elektrodytan med en katalytisk film. Försök gjordes att sätta till Y(III) till kloridelektrolyt för att under vätgasutveckling fälla ut en yttriumhydroxidfilm på den alkaliska katodytan. Yttriumhydroxidfilmen aktiverade vattenreduktion (vätgasutveckling) och inhiberade hypokloritreduktion, protonreduktion och nitratreduktion. De inhiberande egenskaperna är viktiga för att förhindra bireaktioner, vilka idag hindras av att Cr(VI) i elektrolyten reduceras på katoden och bildar en hindrande kromhydroxidfilm. Försöken med Y(III) visar att det finns goda möjligheter att hitta alternativ till det miljöfarliga Cr(VI). Kromattillsatsen i kloratelektrolyt ger förutom ett högt katodiskt strömutbyte även en buffrande effekt till elektrolyten. Effekten av buffert har undersökts för en av de anodiska bireaktionerna, syrgasutveckling ur vatten, samt för vätgasutvecklingen på katoden. Dessa system har modellerats för att bättre förstå samspelet mellan buffert, elektrodreaktioner och materietransport och resultaten har verifierats experimentellt. Kromatbufferten ökade gränsströmmen för katodisk H+-reduktion betydligt och katodöverpotentialen sjönk kraftigt vid lägre strömmar än gränsströmmen. Detta kan vara ett problem om överpotentialen sjunker så lågt att elektroden inte är katodiskt skyddad. För syrgasutvecklingen ökade närvaron av kromatbuffert gränsströmmen för syrgasutveckling ur OH-. Modellering av dessa system visar att de homogena reaktioner som var kopplade till elektrodreaktionerna inte var i jämvikt vid elektrodytan. Vidare visade det sig vara mycket viktigt med en bra upplösning av gränsskiktet vid elektrodytan, då den buffring som är viktig för elektrodreaktionerna sker i ett mycket tunt reaktionsskikt (nanometertjockt). / <p>QC 20100901</p>

The principles of dye-sensitized solar cells were studied and are outlined in this thesis. An overview of the basic steps needed to create a DSC isfollowed by detailed experimental information on how to assemble the solar cells that were fabricated in this project. They were based on synthesizednanocrystalline ZnO thin films sensitized by chlorophyll a as well as isolated photopigments from spinach leaves. The nanocrystals werestudied using XRD, and it was confirmed that three different methods of synthesis resulted in ZnO crystals of a few nanometers. The solar cellswere assembled with Au electrodes in a sandwich configuration and their photovoltaic properties were measured. Overall light-to-electricity conversionwas low with the highest efficiency being 0.21 %. An astonishingly low efficiency of 0.0003 % was noted for a thin film which was not thermallytreated, and it is suggested that heat-treatment is of great importance. It was also found that photopigments from spinach can be extractedeasily and used as molecular sensitizer without any demanding purification steps.

På grund av nya riktlinjer för användning av mässing i kontakt med dricksvatten har nya blyfria mässingslegeringar utvecklats. Det är därför av stort intresse att undersöka deras korrosionsegenskaper, såsom avzinkningshärdighet. Ett accelererat standardtest, SS-EN ISO 6509–1:2014, har använts för att bestämma avzinkningshärdighet hos mässingslegeringar. Eftersom detta standardtest utvecklades för bly-innehållande mässingslegeringar har det ännu inte fastställts huruvida denna metod också kan appliceras för fastställandet av avzinkningshärdigheten hos blyfria mässingslegeringar.  Syftet med detta examensarbete var att fylla denna kunskapslucka. Detta gjordes genom att undersöka hur avzinkningsegenskaperna för tre mässingslegeringar, varav två var blyfria och en bly-innehållande, påverkades genom att ändra standardtestets parametrar. Resultaten jämfördes sedan med deras beteende i kranvatten för att bestämma testresultatens tillförlitlighet. Det visade sig att majoriteten av de erhållna resultaten för de blyfria mässingslegeringarna var i överensstämmelse med de resultat som erhölls för den blyinnehållande mässingen. Slutsatsen som kunde dras var därför att standardtestet kan användas för att bestämma avzinkningshärdighet även av blyfri mässing samt att resultaten visar på samma rangordning gällande deras egenskaper i tappvatten. / Due to new regulations for the use of brass in contact with drinking water, new lead-free brass alloys have been developed. It is therefore of great interest to investigate their corrosion properties in terms of dezincification resistance. An accelerated standard test, SS-EN ISO 6509-1:2014 is used to determine the dezincification resistance of brass alloys. However, as this standard test was developed for leaded brass alloys, it has not yet been established whether this method also is suitable to assess the dezincification resistance of lead-free brass alloys.  This master thesis study aimed to expand this knowledge gap by investigating how the dezincification properties of three different brass alloys, two newly developed lead-free alloys and one lead-containing alloy, were affected by changing the parameters of the standard test. The results were compared with their behaviour in tap water to determine the reliability of the ISO test. Most of the obtained results of the lead-free brass alloys were in accordance with the results obtained for the leaded brass alloy. It could therefore be concluded that the standard test can be used to assess the dezincification resistance of brass alloys and also reflect their ranking at tap water conditions.

På grund av nya riktlinjer för användning av mässing i kontakt med dricksvatten har nya blyfria mässingslegeringar utvecklats. Det är därför av stort intresse att undersöka deras korrosionsegenskaper, såsom avzinkningshärdighet. Ett accelererat standardtest, SS-EN ISO 6509–1:2014, har använts för att bestämma avzinkningshärdighet hos mässingslegeringar. Eftersom detta standardtest utvecklades för bly-innehållande mässingslegeringar har det ännu inte fastställts huruvida denna metod också kan appliceras för fastställandet av avzinkningshärdigheten hos blyfria mässingslegeringar.  Syftet med detta examensarbete var att fylla denna kunskapslucka. Detta gjordes genom att undersöka hur avzinkningsegenskaperna för tre mässingslegeringar, varav två var blyfria och en bly-innehållande, påverkades genom att ändra standardtestets parametrar. Resultaten jämfördes sedan med deras beteende i kranvatten för att bestämma testresultatens tillförlitlighet. Det visade sig att majoriteten av de erhållna resultaten för de blyfria mässingslegeringarna var i överensstämmelse med de resultat som erhölls för den blyinnehållande mässingen. Slutsatsen som kunde dras var därför att standardtestet kan användas för att bestämma avzinkningshärdighet även av blyfri mässing samt att resultaten visar på samma rangordning gällande deras egenskaper i tappvatten. / Due to new regulations for the use of brass in contact with drinking water, new lead-free brass alloys have been developed. It is therefore of great interest to investigate their corrosion properties in terms of dezincification resistance. An accelerated standard test, SS-EN ISO 6509-1:2014 is used to determine the dezincification resistance of brass alloys. However, as this standard test was developed for leaded brass alloys, it has not yet been established whether this method also is suitable to assess the dezincification resistance of lead-free brass alloys.  This master thesis study aimed to expand this knowledge gap by investigating how the dezincification properties of three different brass alloys, two newly developed lead-free alloys and one lead-containing alloy, were affected by changing the parameters of the standard test. The results were compared with their behaviour in tap water to determine the reliability of the ISO test. Most of the obtained results of the lead-free brass alloys were in accordance with the results obtained for the leaded brass alloy. It could therefore be concluded that the standard test can be used to assess the dezincification resistance of brass alloys and also reflect their ranking at tap water conditions.

This thesis deals with the use of electric fields for evaluation and control of chemical systems. An electric field can result in the flow of charge across an interface between a metal and a solution, by means of chemical reactions. This interplay between electricity and chemistry, i.e. electrochemistry, is a field of crucial importance both within research and industry. Applications based on electrochemical principles encompass such diverse areas as batteries and fuel cells, pH electrodes, and the glucose monitor used by people suffering from diabetes.A major part of the present work concerns the use of static electric fields in solutions containing a non-contacted metal surface. In such a setup it is possible to control the extent of electrochemical reactions at different positions on the metal. This allows the formation and evaluation of various types of gradients on electrodes, via indirectly induced electrochemical reactions. This approach is a new and simple way of forming for instance molecular gradients on conducting surfaces. These are very advantageous in biomimetic research, because a gradient contains a huge amount of discrete combinations of for example two molecules. The basis for the technique is the use of bipolar electrochemistry. Briefly, a surface can become a bipolar electrode (an electrode that acts as both anode and cathode) when the electric field in the solution exceeds a certain threshold value, thereby inducing redox reactions at both ends. In our experiments, the driving force for these reactions will vary along the electrode surface. Since the result of an electrochemical reaction can be the deposition or removal of material from an electrode, bipolar electrochemistry can be used to create gradients of that material on a surface. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these processes, the potential and current density distributions at bipolar electrodes were investigated with different methods. Especially the use of imaging techniques was important for the visualization and analysis of the gradients. Using this knowledge, the formation of more complex gradients was facilitated, and the results were further compared to simulations based on simple conductivity models. These simulations also provided us with means to predict the behavior of new and interesting setup geometries for pattering applications.The other major part is more application driven and deals with the use of alternating electric fields for chemical analysis, a technique known as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In this work, EIS has been applied for the analysis of engine oils and industrial cutting fluids. Emphasis was placed on practical aspects of the measurement procedure, and on the evaluation of the results using statistical methods. It was for example shown that it was possible to simultaneously determine the amount of different contaminants in low conducting solutions. Generally, EIS is used to measure the impedance of a solution or a solid, often as a function of the frequency of the alternating electric field. The impedance of a system is closely correlated to its complex dielectric constant, and EIS can therefor be used to examine many chemical and physical processes. It is further well suited for characterizing low conducting media with little or no redox-active species. The evaluation of impedance data is often a quite complex task, which is why we have made use of statistical methods that drastically reduce the effort and quickly reveal significant intrinsic parameters.

Ionic transport in metal oxides is crucial for the functioning of a broad range of different components, such as heat resistant alloys designed for high temperature applications and oxide electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cells. This thesis presents results from in situ electrochemical studies of properties related to ionic transport in metal oxides that are important for their applications as protective oxides and ionic conductors. Heat resistant alloys of alumina-former type are known to form an adherent, slowly growing and protective aluminium oxide (Al2O3) scale that protects metals from chemical degradation at high temperature. In situ impedance spectroscopy was used to study highly pure and dense samples of a-alumina in the temperature range 400 – 1000 °C. It was shown that surface conduction on the sample could severely distort the measurement below 700 °C. The magnitude of the distortions appeared to be sensitive to the type of electrodes used. The use of a so-called guard electrode was shown to effectively block the surface conduction in the measurements. By varying the grain size of the sintered alpha-alumina samples, the influence of grain size on the overall conductivity of the a-alumina was studied. It was shown that the activation energy for conductivity increased as the grain size decreased. Molecular dynamics calculations were performed in order to elucidate whether Al- or O ions are dominant in the ionic conductivity of the alpha-alumina. Comparing the calculation and experimental results, the dominating charge carrier was suggested to be oxygen ions. Moreover, the ionic transport in thermally grown alumina-like oxide scales formed on a FeCrAl alloy was studied in situ by impedance spectroscopy between 600 and 1000 °C. It was shown that the properties of these scales differ largely from those of pure and dense alpha-alumina. Furthermore, the conductivity is mainly electronic, due to the multiphase/multilayer microstructure and substantial incorporation of species from the base metal. However, the diffusivity obtained from the ionic conductivity was in line with diffusion data in literature obtained by other methods such as thermogravimetry. Besides, the initial stage of oxidation of a number of Fe-, Ni- and Co-based alloys at temperatures between 500 and 800 °C was studied in situ by high temperature cyclic voltammetry, in which the oxygen activity was changed over a wide range. From the resulting voltammograms the redox reactions occurring on the alloy surface could be identified. It was concluded that the base metal oxidized readily on these alloys before a protective chromia- or alumina-like scale is formed. The base metal oxide is most likely incorporated into the more protective oxide. Further, the oxygen ionic conductivity of highly pure and fully dense yttria-stabilized zirconia produced by spark plasma sintering was studied by impedance spectroscopy. The aim was to evaluate intrinsic blocking effects on the ionic conduction associated with the space charge layer in the grain boundary region. It was observed that the ionic conductivity of the spark plasma sintered oxides is equal or slightly higher than what has been achieved by conventional sintering methods. In addition, it was shown that the specific grain boundary conductivity increases with decreasing grain size, which can be explained by a decreasing Schottky barrier height (i.e., decreasing blocking effect). The quantitative results from this work verify the space charge model describing the influence of grain size on the ionic conductivity of yttria-stabilized zirconia through dopant segregation and oxygen vacancy depletion along the grain boundaries. / QC 20100825

Smältkarbonatbränslecellen (MCFC) är en högtemperaturbränslecell för stationära applikationer. Den har samma höga totalverkningsgrad som konventionella kraftvärme-anläggningar, men kan byggas i mindre moduler (från 250 kWe). De små modulerna och den bränsleflexibilitet (naturgas, biogas, etanol, diesel) som MCFC har, gör den intressant för exempelvis industrier med organiska restprodukter och höga krav på tillförlitlighet. Den höga temperaturen och närvaron av en saltsmälta gör dock materialdegradering till en viktig faktor för forskning och utveckling inom området. För även om de fälttester som nyligen gjorts har visat på att vissa av degraderingsprocesserna är mindre allvarliga än förväntat, finns fortfarande ett behov av utveckling för att sänka kostnaderna och förlänga livstiden. I första delen av detta arbete undersöktes material för olika delar av cellen inom ramarna för EU-projektet IRMATECH. Materialen ansågs vara interessanta alternativ till de nuvarande materialen på grund av deras lägre kostnad och/eller bättre prestanda. Två alternativa anodströmtilledarmaterial undersöktes. För anodströmtilledaren är korrosionen och den elektriska resistansen av det eventuella oxidlagret nyckelparametrar. Dessa parametrar undersöktes och utvärderades. Fastän de båda alternativa materialen hade oxidlager med låg resistans, fanns indikationer på korrosionsprocesser som kan äventyra materialets långtidsstabilitet. För katodmaterialet, NiO, har upplösningen varit problemet. De upplösta nickeljonerna fälls ut i elektrolyten och bildar dendriter som kan kortsluta cellen. Därför undersöktes nickelupplösningen hos tre alternativa katodmaterial. Det mest lovande materialet, en nickeloxid-katod dopad med magnesium och järn testades i en singelcell för att studera elektrokemisk prestanda, morfologi och områden där nickelutfällning skett. Resultaten visade att prestandan var jämförbar med NiO, men att den mekaniska stabiliteten måste undersökas ytterligare. I ”wet-seal”-området är det rostfria stålet belagt med ett aluminiumskikt för att skydda det från den mycket korrosiva miljön. Tillverkningsprocesserna för dessa aluminiumbeläggningar har hittills varit dyra och komplexa. Därför utvärderades en alternativ tillverkningsprocess. Beläggningen, studerad i både reducerande och oxiderande miljö visade en tendens till att spricka och därmed exponera det underliggande rostfria stålet. Detta berodde troligtvis på en manuell beläggningsprocess som resulterade i ett inhomogent ytskikt. I den andra delen av arbetet föreslogs en alternativ tillverkningsmetod, baserad på nyligen publicerade resultat där man elektrodeponerat aluminium från jonvätskor. Dessa har ett större katodiskt fönster än vatten och möjliggör därför elektrodeponering av elektropositiva material. För att göra processen industrivänlig provades ett alternativ till den vanligen använda aluminiumtrikloriden. Det visade sig dock att påverkan av miljön på stabiliteten hos jonvätskan behövde undersökas innan några material kunde tillverkas. Vatten i kombination med syre visade sig ha en stor inverkan på den katodiska strömtätheten. I frånvaro av dessa komponenter var jonvätskan mycket stabil. / The Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) is a high temperature fuel cell for stationary applications. It has the same high over-all efficiency (90%) as traditional combined heat and power plants, but MCFC can be built in small modules (from 250 kWe). The small modules in combination with fuel flexibility (natural gas, biogas, ethanol, diesel) makes MCFC an interesting alternative for industries with organic waste and high demands for reliability. The high temperature (650 °C) and the presence of molten salt result however in material degradation. Corrosion and dissolution of the materials used have been the challenge for MCFC. Although long-term field trials have shown that some of the material problems are not as severe as first believed, further material development is necessary to decrease the cost and prolong the life-time. In the first part of this work, materials for different parts of the cell were tested within the EU project IRMATECH. The materials were interesting alternatives to the state-of-the-art materials due to their lower cost and/or better performance. Two alternative anode current collector materials were tested. For the anode current collector the corrosion and electrical resistance of the possible oxide layer are key parameters. These parameters were investigated and evaluated. Although both the materials showed a low resistance, there were indications of corrosion processes which could affect the life-time of the material. For the cathode material, NiO, the dissolution of the material has been a problem. The dissolved nickel ions precipitate in the electrolyte and form conductive nickel dendrites that eventually short-circuit the cell. Therefore, the nickel dissolution of three alternative cathode materials was tested. The most promising material, a NiO doped with magnesium and iron, was tested in a single cell to study the electrical performance, the morphology after operation and the area where nickel had precipitated. The results showed that the performance was comparable to NiO, but it is necessary to investigate the mechanical strength of the material further. In the wet-seal area, the stainless steel is coated with an aluminium coating to protect the material from a severe corrosion environment. The production of aluminium coatings has so far been expensive and complex and an alternative coating process was evaluated. The alternative coating, tested in both reducing and oxidising environments showed a tendency to crack and expose the stainless steel to the corrosive environment. This was suggested being due to the manual coating process that resulted in inhomogeneous coatings. In the second part, an alternative process to coat the wet-seal was suggested, based on recently published results where aluminium had been electrodeposited from ionic liquids. These solvents have a wider electrochemical window than water, and electropositive materials can therefore be deposited. To make the coating process suitable for industrial applications, an alternative to the commonly used AlCl3 was tested. It was shown however, that the influence of the environment had to be investigated before any materials could be produced. The environment, especially water in combination with oxygen was shown to influence the cathodic current density. In absence of these components, the ionic liquid was shown to be very stable. / QC 20100906

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of anthropogenic aliphatic compounds, widelyknown for their environmental persistence and toxicity to living beings. While they are ubiquitous in theenvironment, interest has been focused on contaminated soil, which can act as a primary recipient andsource of groundwater contamination. Electrokinetic technology is based on the movement of ionsunder the effect of an electric field. This could be a promising remediation solution, since PFASs areusually present in their anionic form. The contaminants can then be concentrated towards the anode,thus reducing a plume’s volume and possibly extracting the substances from soil. The preliminary aimof the present study was to evaluate the potential of using electrodialysis for the remediation of PFAScontaminatedsoil for the first time. Experiments were run with natural contaminated soil samples,originating from a fire-fighting training site at Arlanda Airport, and at Kallinge, Sweden, as well as inartificially spikedsoil. Electrodes were placed in electrolyte-filled chambers and separated by the soilwith ion-exchange membranes for pH-control. In total, five experiments were conducted. Two differentsetups were tested, a typical 3-compartment EKR cell and a 2-compartment setup, to allow for pHincrease and facilitate PFAS desorption. Two different current densities were tested; 0.19 mA cm-2 and0.38 mA cm-2. After twenty-one days, soil was cut in ten parts lengthwise and triplicate samples wereanalysed for PFAS concentrations, with HPLC-MS/MS. Sixteen out of the twenty-six screened PFASswere detected above MDL in the natural soil samples. The majority of the detected PFASs showed apositive trend of electromigration towards the anode, under both current densities, with only longerchainedcompounds (c&gt;8) being immobile. This can be attributed to the stronger sorption potential oflong-chained PFAS molecules, as has been reported in previous sorption studies. Mass balancedistribution for a high current density (0.38 mA cm-2) experiment revealed that 73.2% of Σ26PFAS wasconcentrated towards the anode, with 59% at the soil closer to the anode, 5.7% at the anion exchangemembrane and 8.5% at the anolyte. It also showed higher mobility for short-chained molecules (c≤6),as they were the only compounds to be extracted from soil and be concentrated in the anolyte. Highercurrent densities were not directly correlated with higher electromigration rates, as to the lack of massbalance data for the low current density experiments. Regardless, electrodialysis could be a viable optionfor PFAS soil remediation and further research to encourage the understanding of the migrationmechanism, as well as combination with other treatment methods is encouraged. / Per- och polyfluoralkylsubstanser (PFAS) är en grupp av antropogena alifatiska föreningar, allmäntkända för sin miljöpåverkan och toxicitet för levande varelser. Medan de är allestädes närvarande imiljön har intresset varit inriktat på förorenad mark, som kan fungera som primär mottagare och källatill grundvattenförorening. Elektrokinetisk teknik är baserad på jonernas rörelse under effekten av ettelektriskt fält. Detta kan vara en lovande lösningsmedel, eftersom PFAS är vanligtvis närvarande i sinanjoniska form. Föroreningarna kan sedan koncentreras mot anoden, vilket reducerar en plums volymoch eventuellt extraherar ämnena från jorden. Det preliminära målet med den föreliggande studien varatt utvärdera potentialen att använda elektrodialys för sanering av PFAS-förorenad jord för förstagången. Experimenten kördes med naturliga förorenade jordprover, härrörande från enbrandbekämpningsplats vid Arlanda flygplats, och i Kallinge, Sverige, samt i konstgjort spikedsol.Elektroder placerades i elektrolytfyllda kamrar och separerades av jorden med jonbytesmembran förpH-kontroll. Totalt genomfördes fem experiment. Två olika inställningar testades, en typisk 3-facksEKR-cell och en 2-facksinställning, vilket möjliggör pH-ökning och underlättar PFAS-desorption. Tvåolika strömtätheter testades; 0,19 mA cm-2 och 0,38 mA cm-2. Efter tjugo dagar skärs jorden i tio delari längdriktningen och trippelprover analyserades för PFAS-koncentrationer, med HPLC-MS / MS.Sexton av de tjugosex screenade PFAS: erna detekterades över MDL i de naturliga markproverna.Majoriteten av de upptäckta PFAS-värdena visade en positiv trend av elektromigration mot anodenunder båda strömtätheten, varvid endast längre kedjiga föreningar (c&gt; 8) var immobila. Detta kanhänföras till den starkare sorptionspotentialen hos långkedjiga PFAS-molekyler, vilket har rapporteratsi tidigare sorptionsstudier. Massbalansfördelning för ett experiment med hög strömtäthet (0,38 mA cm-2) visade att 73,2% av Σ26PFAS koncentrerades mot anoden, med 59% vid jorden närmare anoden, 5,7%vid anjonbytarmembranet och 8,5% vid anolyten. Det visade också högre rörlighet för kortkedjigamolekyler (c≤6), eftersom de var de enda föreningarna som skulle extraheras från jord och koncentrerasi anolyten. Högre strömtätheter var inte direkt korrelerade med högre elektromigrationshastigheter,avseende bristen på massbalansdata för experimenten med låg strömtäthet. Oavsett elektrodialys kandet vara ett lönsamt alternativ för PFAS-markrening och ytterligare forskning för att uppmuntraförståelsen för migrationsmekanismen, liksom kombinationen med andra behandlingsmetoder främjas.