Novel Metal Sulfides to Achieve Effective Capture and Durable Consolidation of Radionuclides
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
This report documents the work done under NEUP grant to examine the capability of novel chalcogels and some binary metal chalcogenides as a host matrix for the capture of gaseous iodine and the feasibility of their iodine-laden materials to be converted into a permanent waste form. The presented work was conducted over last two years. A number of novel chalcogels Zn2Sn2S6, Sb4Sn4S12, NiMoS4, CoMoS4, antimony sulfide (SbSx) chalcogels, silver functionalized chalcogels and binary metal sulfides (Sb2S3) were developed and studies for their iodine absorption efficacies. A new and simple route was devised for the large scale preparation of antimony sulfide chalcogel. The chalcogel was obtained by treating Sb2S3 with Na2S in the presence of water followed by addition of formamide. The obtained gels have a low-density sponge like network of meso porous nature having BET surface area of 125 m2/g. The chalcogels, silver functionalized chalcogel and the binary metal sulfides were exposed to iodine vapors in a closed container. Silver-functionalized chalcogels and Sb2S3 powders showed iodine uptake up to 100 wt%, the highest iodine uptake of 200 wt% was observed for the SbS-III chalcogel. The PXRD patterns of iodine-laden specimens revealed that iodine shows spontaneous chemisorption to the matrix used. The iodine loaded chalcogels and the binary chalcogenides were sealed under vacuum in fused silica ampoules and heated in a temperature controlled furnace. The consolidated products were analyzed by PXRD, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopy. The final products were found to be amorphous in most of the cases with high amount (~4-35 wt%) of iodine and aapproximately ~60- 90 % of the absorbed iodine could be consolidated into the final waste form. Alginate reinforced composite scaffolds with SbS/SnS chalcogels and Sb2S3 bulk powder were also fabricated aiming to study their efficacy as host matrices in capturing the gaseous molecular iodine in dynamic mode from nuclear spent fuel. The obtained composites looks robust in comparison to their respective pristine chalcogels and Sb2S3 bulk powder.
- Research Organization:
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1333915
- Report Number(s):
- 12-3438; 12-3438
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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