Differentiating the role of lithium and oxygen in retaining deuterium on lithiated graphite plasma-facing components
Laboratory experiments have been used to investigate the fundamental interactions responsible for deuterium retention in lithiated graphite. Oxygen was found to be present and play a key role in experiments that simulated NSTX lithium conditioning, where the atomic surface concentration can increase to >40% when deuterium retention chemistry is observed. Quantum-classical molecular dynamic simulations elucidated this oxygen-deuterium effect and showed that oxygen retains significantly more deuterium than lithium in a simulated matrix with 20% lithium, 20% oxygen, and 60% carbon. Simulations further show that deuterium retention is even higher when lithium is removed from the matrix. Experiments artificially increased the oxygen content in graphite to approximately 16% and then bombarded with deuterium. XPS showed depletion of the oxygen and no enhanced deuterium retention, thus demonstrating that lithium is essential in retaining the oxygen that thereby retains deuterium.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1123855
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-13-29589
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Physical Society - Division of Plasma Physics,Denver, CO,11/11/2013,11/15/2013
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Differentiating the role of lithium and oxygen in retaining deuterium on lithiated graphite plasma-facing components
Chemical response of lithiated graphite with deuterium irradiation