Chemical response of lithiated graphite with deuterium irradiation

Journal Article · Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3555097· OSTI ID:21538141

Taylor, C N; Heim, B; Allain, J P ^[1]

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1. Purdue University, School of Nuclear Engineering, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States)

Lithium wall conditioning has been found to enhance plasma performance for graphite walled fusion devices such as TFTR, CDX-U, T-11M, TJ-II and NSTX. Among observed plasma enhancements is a reduction in edge density and reduced deuterium recycling. The mechanism by which lithiated graphite retains deuterium is largely unknown. Under controlled laboratory conditions, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to observe the chemical changes that occur on ATJ graphite after lithium deposition. The chemical state of lithiated graphite is found to change upon deuterium irradiation indicating the formation Li-O-D, manifest at 532.9 {+-} 0.6 eV. Lithium-deuterium interactions are also manifest in the C 1s photoelectron energy range and show Li-C-D interactions at 291.2 {+-} 0.6 eV. Post-mortem NSTX tiles that have been exposed to air upon extraction are cleaned and examined, revealing the chemical archaeology that formed during NSTX operations. XPS spectra show strong correlation ({+-} 0.3 eV) in Li-O-D and Li-O peaks from post-mortem and control experiments, thus validating offline experiments. We report findings that show that deuterium is found to interact with lithium after lithium has already reacted with carbon and oxygen.

• OSTI ID: 21538141
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 109, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3555097; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CDX-U SPHEROMAK
CHEMICAL STATE
CORRELATIONS
DENSITY
DEPOSITION
DEUTERIUM
EXTRACTION
GRAPHITE
INTERACTIONS
IRRADIATION
LITHIUM
MULTIPLICITY
NSTX DEVICE
OXYGEN
PLASMA
RECYCLING
SPECTRA
TRANSLOCATION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ALKALI METALS
CARBON
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
METALS
MINERALS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTROSCOPY
SPHEROMAK DEVICES
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES