A combined calorimetric and computational study of the energetics of rare earth substituted UO2 systems
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
The energetics of rare earth substituted UO2 solid solutions (U1-xLnxO2-0.5x+y, where Ln = La, Y, and Nd) are explored employing a combination of calorimetric measurements and density functional theory based computations. Calculated and measured formation enthalpies agree within 10 kJ/mol for stoichiometric oxygen/metal compositions. To better understand the factors governing the stability and defect binding in rare earth substituted urania solid solutions, systematic trends in the energetics are investigated based on the present results and previous computational and experimental thermochemical studies of rare earth substituted fluorite oxides (A1-xLnxO2-0.5x, where A = Hf, Zr, Ce, and Th). A consistent trend towards increased energetic stability with larger size mismatch between the smaller host tetravalent cation and the larger rare earth trivalent cation is found for both actinide and non-actinide fluorite oxide systems where aliovalent substitution of Ln cations is compensated by oxygen vacancies. Yet, the large exothermic oxidation enthalpy in the UO2 based systems favors oxygen rich compositions where charge compensation occurs through the formation of uranium cations with higher oxidation states.
- Research Organization:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Materials Science of Actinides (MSA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0001089; AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1370874
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1254764
- Journal Information:
- Acta Materialia, Vol. 97, Issue C; Related Information: MSA partners with University of Notre Dame (lead); University of California, Davis; Florida State University; George Washington University; University of Michigan; University of Minnesota; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Oregon state University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Savannah River National Laboratory; ISSN 1359-6454
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Chemical ordering in substituted fluorite oxides: a computational investigation of Ho2Zr2O7 and RE2Th2O7 (RE=Ho, Y, Gd, Nd, La)
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journal | December 2016 |
Dependency of f states in fluorite-type XO 2 (X = Ce, Th, U) on the stability and electronic state of doped transition metals
|
journal | January 2019 |
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