Determination of Thermodynamic Properties of Alkaline Earth-liquid Metal Alloys Using the Electromotive Force Technique
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Updated: Feb 18, 2026

Determination of Thermodynamic Properties of Alkaline Earth-liquid Metal Alloys Using the Electromotive Force Technique
Published on: November 3, 2017
Thomas P Nigl1, Nathan D Smith1, Timothy Lichtenstein1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract:
A novel electrochemical cell based on a CaF2 solid-state electrolyte has been developed to measure the electromotive force (emf) of binary alkaline earth-liquid metal alloys as functions of both composition and temperature in order to acquire thermodynamic data. The cell consists of a chemically stable solid-state CaF2-AF2 electrolyte (where A is the alkaline-earth element such as Ca, Sr, or Ba), with binary A-B alloy (where B is the liquid metal such as Bi or Sb) working electrodes, and a pure A metal reference electrode. Emf data are collected over a temperature range of 723 K to 1,123 K in 25 K increments for multiple alloy compositions per experiment and the results are analyzed to yield activity values, phase transition temperatures, and partial molar entropies/enthalpies for each composition.
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