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zenmanenergy
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AlCl3 from HCl and foil
I am attempting to make some aluminum chloride to intercalate into graphite to make a p-type ink for a thermal electric generator.
Anyway, my plan is to mix aluminum foil with muriatic acid. Using:
6 HCl + 2 Al = 2 AlCl3 + 3 H2
I'm not 100% sure, but from a bit of googling, I found that muriatic acid is about 10M concentration. Is that a reasonable assumption to work with?
The videos I've seen doing this seem to produce a grey distillate. Although when I purchased some aluminum chloride hexahydrate, they were white
crystals. I'm assuming the grey color is from impurities. Will acetone help remove some of these impurities?
With this process ultimately produce a hexahydrate AlCl3? If so, how do you make an anhydrous version?
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VSEPR_VOID
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The concentration of the acid does not matter in your application. If you are looking to make a specific amount of aluminium chloride then use a
corresponding amount of aluminium. One mole of aluminium yields one mole of the chloride salt.
An Example
26.98 grams of aluminium when fully reacted with hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) will yield 241.432 grams of aluminium chloride hexahydrate. This
can be dehydrated to anhydrous aluminium chloride by heating it to 100 C for some time. As a side note aluminium foil is a expensive source of the
metal. Consider using cans, with the labels removed, instead.
If your final product is yellow that is due to contamination from your acid, and if it is grey from your aluminium. Acetone will not help remove the
impurities. If you wish to purify your product I recommend recrystallizing it in either ethyl alcohol or pure water.
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RogueRose
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I've seen a solution that was very dark grey to blackish and this material was removed by a good filter. If all the color doesn't come out the first
pass through, run it through another time or two, the particles in the filter will build up and it will eventually filter the smallest particles. I
found the AlCl3 particularly difficult to filter the first 2 passes but then the third it was crystal clear. The thing is that you use the same
filter for all filterings, each one wil probably take longer, so sit back and let it drip slowly over the day (or 2)
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UC235
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No it absolutely cannot. You will produce Al2O3 or possibly some oxychlorides. Anhydrous AlCl3 has to be produced from Al and HCl or Cl2 in the
absence of water. The reaction with Cl2 is violently exothermic but can be moderated by a solvent (though most also react). It is much cheaper and
easier to buy some.
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Magpie
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I assume you need anhydrous AlCl3. This is hard to make due to its strong propensity to take on water. The only time I’ve seen this made is by
blogfast25. He reported this with pictures but I can’t find his report.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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ninhydric1
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Couldn't you generate HCl from bisulfate + NaCl, dry it through CaCl2 or H2SO4, the lead it to Al foil/ powder? You would need to etch the Al2O3
somehow though, maybe a bit of H2SO4 or another anhydrous acid.
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VSEPR_VOID
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Quote: Originally posted by UC235  |
No it absolutely cannot. You will produce Al2O3 or possibly some oxychlorides. Anhydrous AlCl3 has to be produced from Al and HCl or Cl2 in the
absence of water. The reaction with Cl2 is violently exothermic but can be moderated by a solvent (though most also react). It is much cheaper and
easier to buy some. |
My mistake. I misread the article on AlCl3
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clearly_not_atara
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Somehow I imagine you could make AlCl3 by grinding Al with anhydrous cupric chloride, but I'm honestly guessing.
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Texium
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Or possibly by adding aluminum to a solution of anhydrous cupric chloride in dry methanol or ethanol. The anhydrous CuCl2 and
AlCl3 are both very soluble according to Wikipedia, though I've never tried such a displacement myself.
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JJay
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I made some aluminum chloride in a quartz tube with hydrogen chloride, but I didn't get extremely high purity due to various factors (mainly
inexperience I think). It's pretty easy to do. I'm quite sure I could do it much more effectively with my current equipment and skillset.
Cupric chloride forms a thermite with aluminum that produces aluminum chloride smoke. I found that the thermite burns pretty hot, but Polverone
mentioned on the exotic thermites thread an experiment where he wrapped cupric chloride with aluminum foil and burned it without the reaction becoming
super vigorous.
If you could somehow react cupric chloride with aluminum in a suitable vessel and lead the smoke into a glass chimney (perhaps constructed from a
water-cooled condenser), I think you could capture useful amounts of reasonably pure aluminum chloride.
Reacting cupric chloride and aluminum in a partially-closed container is a pretty dangerous experiment, though, and the only way I could think of to
do it at all safely would be to have the apparatus held together by gravity so that unexpected high pressures merely lift the lid rather than building
up and causing an explosion. I have not read any reports of anyone making useful amounts of aluminum chloride that way, but I think it is possible.
It's probably easier to just use hydrogen chloride and a tube furnace, though.
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Rhodanide
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I know that ChemPlayer has a great video on making anhydrous AlCl3, by the rather clever route of heating anhydrous ZnCl2 and Al
powder, and "distilling" the AlCl3 off as a nice white powder. I can give a link to the video, they did a great job IMO.
3 ZnCl2 + 2 Al -> 2 AlCl3 + 2 Zn
Link to ChemPlayer's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7sS69fQMsk
[Edited on 3-5-2018 by Rhodanide]
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JJay
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That is probably the easiest way to make AlCl3. The only major drawback to it is that ZnCl2 is hard to find OTC... supposedly it is used as a welding
flux, but I never found any.
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clearly_not_atara
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ZnCl2 cannot be dried by heat. CuCl2 can if you have good temperature control. InCl3 can as well IIRC if you have access to indium. I see I
underestimated the reaction energy.
I don't know if AlCl3 can be obtained from methanolic solution. You might get methyl chloride. I believe CuCl2 is soluble in acetone, though. GAA
might also be a good solvent choice.
[Edited on 5-3-2018 by clearly_not_atara]
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Texium
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Thread Moved
5-3-2018 at 08:08 |
zenmanenergy
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Holy crap.
I posted this last night and you all have posted 12 responses by lunchtime!!!
THIS FORUM IS AWESOME!! 
I'm going to go out back and give this a try, I suspect I'll end up just buying some anhydrous AlCl3. But I'd like to try this reaction just to see it
in action.
I tried the graphite intercalation twice with hydrous AlCl3, once using the modified hummers method then other using the heat pipe method with FeCl3
as the catalyst. Neither came out the way Robert Murray Smith's did and I'm pretty sure the added H2O was the reason. Have any of you tried
intercalating AlCl3 with graphite?
[Edited on 5-3-2018 by zenmanenergy]
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zenmanenergy
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| Quote: Originally posted by UC235 |
No it absolutely cannot. You will produce Al2O3 or possibly some oxychlorides. Anhydrous AlCl3 has to be produced from Al and HCl or Cl2 in the
absence of water. The reaction with Cl2 is violently exothermic but can be moderated by a solvent (though most also react). It is much cheaper and
easier to buy some. |
I can attest to this... I had a bottle of hydrous AlCl3. I was curious if I could dehydrate the H2O by heating it. I weighed out 5.04g of AlCl3+6H2O
dissolved it into 50ml of DI water. Then boiled all the water off until I was left with nothing but salt and weighed to salt... I still had 5 grams of
salt.
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zenmanenergy
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| Quote: Originally posted by Magpie | | I assume you need anhydrous AlCl3. This is hard to make due to its strong propensity to take on water. The only time I’ve seen this made is by
blogfast25. He reported this with pictures but I can’t find his report. |
Robert Murray Smith uses anhydrous AlCl3 in his graphite intercalation process. I asked him whether the hydrous salt could be used, but he was pretty
vague with his answer. I didn't want to annoy him asking for more details because I like asking him questions occasionally.
I've tried the intercalation process twice now with hydrous AlCl3 and I'm not convinced it is working. I possible I messed up the reactions, but I
think the H2Os are a problems.
Looks like you all are in agreement that this HCL+foil will make hydrous AlCl3, which is fine. I'll try it anyway, for fun, then probably just order a
bottle of professionally made AlCl3 :-)
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happyfooddance
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The hydrated salt CAN be dried. It is about as unwieldy as the tube furnace, dry HCl method though, so unless you have a HCl canister... Maybe just
buy it. You can't dry it with heat or a dessicator.
The method is something like this: AlCl3 hydrates are placed in a flask with a solvent (DCM? Not sure...) which is brought to reflux, while a stream
of dry HCl is passed through the mixture. Depending on quanties this is continued for up to 48 hours.
Easier just to buy it.
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zenmanenergy
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Agreed. I just made a little batch. Now I know the process. I think it was successful, but it didn't make very much at all. I certainly looks black to
me, not white crystals like I was expecting.
Where do you guys buy your chemicals from? I tried placing an order from alfa.com, but they rejected it since I was shipping to my house. I may have
to send stuff to my friend at a University here in Norfolk, but I'd rather just find a place that will ship directly to me.
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Bert
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You're in VA? So is Chemsavers, as I recall.
https://www.chemsavers.com
Member Tomholm here is Elemental Scientific/BME Lab and Science
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=74...
https://www.elementalscientific.net/store/scripts/prodList.a...
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happyfooddance
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| Quote: Originally posted by zenmanenergy |
Agreed. I just made a little batch. Now I know the process. I think it was successful, but it didn't make very much at all. I certainly looks black to
me, not white crystals like I was expecting.
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To me, this doesn't sound like you "now know" the process. It doesn't sound even like you made a little batch. Almost guaranteed, you made a small
batch of something which was NOT your target chemical...
To be fair to those who have made this chemical...
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zenmanenergy
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| Quote: Originally posted by happyfooddance |
To me, this doesn't sound like you "now know" the process. It doesn't sound even like you made a little batch. Almost guaranteed, you made a small
batch of something which was NOT your target chemical...
To be fair to those who have made this chemical... |
Fair enough. Is there a technical difference between little and small?
I just did a second batch, still very small (or little?) but this time 20g of aluminum instead of 5g. I was just trying to keep my 1L beaker from
overflowing and making a mess.
I'm still in the process of washing it, but it visibly appears to have worked. Are you suggesting I am missing a bunch of steps? I plan on ultimately
buying a high quality salt, but I do want to understand this process. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
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happyfooddance
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| Quote: Originally posted by zenmanenergy | Is there a technical difference between little and small?
I just did a second batch, still very small (or little?) but this time 20g of aluminum instead of 5g. I was just trying to keep my 1L beaker from
overflowing and making a mess.
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Technically, the difference would be between micro and macro, in my opinion. Chemically, I think the difference would be between some and none, in the
case of your experiment. I could be being harsh, but I have made this compound.
[Edited on 3-5-2018 by happyfooddance]
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zenmanenergy
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| Quote: Originally posted by happyfooddance |
Technically, the difference would be between micro and macro, in my opinion. Chemically, I think the difference would be between some and none, in the
case of your experiment. I could be being harsh, but I have made this compound.
[Edited on 3-5-2018 by happyfooddance] |
It is no doubt on the micro scale! There is definitely a little pile of *something* there. How much, if any, is Aluminum chloride I don't know yet.
I'm going to try and wash it a couple times tomorrow.
When you've made it in the past, did you use HCl or some other technique?
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Magpie
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I recommend studying this thread:
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=14...
"Preparation of Anhydrous Aluminum Chloride."
I have never made AlCl3. I buy it from Elemental Scientific, LLC.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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happyfooddance
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| Quote: Originally posted by zenmanenergy | | Quote: Originally posted by happyfooddance |
Technically, the difference would be between micro and macro, in my opinion. Chemically, I think the difference would be between some and none, in the
case of your experiment. I could be being harsh, but I have made this compound.
[Edited on 3-5-2018 by happyfooddance] |
It is no doubt on the micro scale! There is definitely a little pile of *something* there. How much, if any, is Aluminum chloride I don't know yet.
I'm going to try and wash it a couple times tomorrow.
When you've made it in the past, did you use HCl or some other technique? |
Dry HCl. It takes a lot of heat to initiate. If this is your first time messing with hot, dry HCl, I strongly suggest you find another project to play
around with, first. Hydrogen exits this set-up, at a concentration that will happily explode. But more importantly, HCl is not really the sort of
thing anybody should be playing around with.
I would gladly sell you AlCl3, just to not see you maim yourself. There are others who I am sure would give you a better price.
Even hot HCl gas can cause an explosion.
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