A facile electrochemical method was used for the first-time recovery of an In–Ga–Zn alloy from a spent indium–gallium–zinc oxide (IGZO). In this work, the molar ratio of In, Ga, and Zn in the alloy is almost the same as that in the initial IGZO after it was electrochemically recovered. For the process, a graphite crucible was used as the cathode to collect the electrolytic products since liquid gallium can be infiltrated into almost all metals to form alloys. The oxygen and carbon contents were only 220 and 130 ppm, respectively, and the yield can reach 98 wt %. The process was simple, efficient, and sustainable and can be extended to large-scale production. Moreover, the obtained alloy was used as raw material for the preparation of oxide composite powders by a coprecipitation method, which can be utilized for preparing the IGZO target. The size of the powder was between 40 and 50 nm, and the distribution of each element was uniform. This article offers a reference for the electrodeoxidation of all gallium-containing oxides. Meanwhile, it also provides a concept for electrolytically recovered alloys directly used as raw materials for the preparation of IGZO.

中文翻译：

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熔融盐电解回收废铟镓锌氧化物

一种简便的电化学方法用于从废铟镓锌氧化物（IGZO）中首次回收In-Ga-Zn合金。在这项工作中，合金中In，Ga和Zn的摩尔比与电化学回收后的初始IGZO中的摩尔比几乎相同。在此过程中，使用石墨坩埚作为阴极收集电解产物，因为液态镓可以渗入几乎所有金属中形成合金。氧含量和碳含量分别仅为220和130ppm，收率可以达到98重量％。该过程简单，高效且可持续，可以扩展到大规模生产。此外，将所得合金用作通过共沉淀法制备氧化物复合粉末的原料，其可用于制备IGZO靶。粉末的尺寸在40至50nm之间，并且每种元素的分布是均匀的。本文为所有含镓氧化物的电氧化提供了参考。同时，它还提供了直接用作制备IGZO原料的电解回收合金的概念。