Hydration of Ni2+ and Cl− in a concentrated nickel chloride solution at 100 °C and 300 °C

Abstract
The first order difference method of neutron diffraction and isotopic substitution has been applied to the Ni2+ and Cl ions in a 2 m nickel chloride heavy water solution at 100 °C and 1000 bar, and at 300 °C and 1000 bar. The results show that both the Ni2+ and the Cl hydration shell become progressively weakened with increasing temperature. The hydration number of Ni2+ drops from ∼6 under ambient conditions to ∼5.4 at 100 °C and to ∼4.5 at 300 °C. The hydration number of Cl at 100 °C (6.9) is similar to the value under ambient conditions (6.4) and reduces to ∼4.9 at 300 °C.