Molten salts are of considerable significance to chemical technology.
Applications range from the established ones, such as the production of
aluminum, magnesium, sodium and fluorine, to those as yet to be fully
exploited, such as molten salt batteries and fuel cells, catalysis, and
solar energy. Molten salts are investigated for different purposes by
many diverse techniques. There is a need to keep investigators working
in different areas, such as metal production, power sources, and glass
industry, aware of progress in various specialties, as well as to
familiarize new research workers with the fundamental aspects of the
broad field of molten salt _ chemistry. This volume constitutes the
plenary lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on
Molten Salt Chemistry, Camerino, Italy, August 3-15, 1986. The
fundamentals and several selected applications of molten salt chemistry
were addressed. The major fundamental topics covered at this ASI were
the structure of melts, thermodynamics of molten salt mixtures,
theoretical and experimental studies of transport processes, metal-metal
salt solutions, solvent properties of melt systems, acid-base effects in
molten salt chemistry, electronic absorption, vibrational, and nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy of melt systems, electrochemistry and
electroanalytical chemistry in molten salts, and organic chemistry in
molten salts. The applied aspects of molten salt chemistry included the
chemistry of aluminum production, electrodeposition using molten salts,
and molten salt batteries and fuel cells.