Tritium Storage Material

Technical Report · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1324749· OSTI ID:1324749

Cowgill, Donald F. ^[1]; Luo, Weifang ^[1]; Smugeresky, John E. ^[1]; Robinson, David B. ^[2]; Fares, Stephen James ^[2]; Ong, Markus D. ^[2]; Arslan, Ilke ^[2]; Tran, Kim L. ^[2]; McCarty, Kevin F. ^[3]; Sartor, George B. ^[4]; Stewart, Kenneth D. ^[5]; Clift, W. Miles ^[5]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Hydrogen and Metallurgical Science Dept.
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Energy Systems Dept.
3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Materials Physics Dept.
4. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Thermal/Fluid Science and Engineering
5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Engineered Material Dept.

Nano-structured palladium is examined as a tritium storage material with the potential to release beta-decay-generated helium at the generation rate, thereby mitigating the aging effects produced by enlarging He bubbles. Helium retention in proposed structures is modeled by adapting the Sandia Bubble Evolution model to nano-dimensional material. The model shows that even with ligament dimensions of 6-12 nm, elevated temperatures will be required for low He retention. Two nanomaterial synthesis pathways were explored: de-alloying and surfactant templating. For de-alloying, PdAg alloys with piranha etchants appeared likely to generate the desired morphology with some additional development effort. Nano-structured 50 nm Pd particles with 2-3 nm pores were successfully produced by surfactant templating using PdCl salts and an oligo(ethylene oxide) hexadecyl ether surfactant. Tests were performed on this material to investigate processes for removing residual pore fluids and to examine the thermal stability of pores. A tritium manifold was fabricated to measure the early He release behavior of this and Pd black material and is installed in the Tritium Science Station glove box at LLNL. Pressure-composition isotherms and particle sizes of a commercial Pd black were measured.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1324749
• Report Number(s): SAND2008-6387; 278464; TRN: US1700064
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
TRITIUM
HELIUM 3
PALLADIUM
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
ETHERS
ISOTHERMS
STORAGE
SURFACTANTS
PARTICLE SIZE
BUBBLES
NANOMATERIALS
AGING
PALLADIUM ALLOYS
SILVER ALLOYS
BINARY ALLOY SYSTEMS
PALLADIUM CHLORIDES
EVOLUTION
MORPHOLOGY
STABILITY
SYNTHESIS