Characterization of uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) with Raman spectroscopy

Villa-Aleman, Eliel; Wellons, Matthew S.

doi:10.1002/jrs.4909

Title: Characterization of uranium tetrafluoride (UF₄) with Raman spectroscopy

Journal Article · Tue Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Raman Spectroscopy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/jrs.4909· OSTI ID:1254430

Villa-Aleman, Eliel ^[1]; Wellons, Matthew S. ^[1]

Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

The Raman spectrum of uranium tetrafluoride (UF₄) is unambiguously characterized with multiple Raman excitation laser sources for the first time. Across different laser excitation wavelengths, UF₄ demonstrates 16 distinct Raman bands within the 50-400 cm^-1 region. The observed Raman bands are representative of various F-F vibrational modes. UF₄ also shows intense fluorescent bands in the 325 – 750 nm spectral region. Comparison of the UF₄ spectrum with the ZrF₄ spectrum, its crystalline analog, demonstrates a similar Raman band structure consistent with group theory predictions for expected Raman bands. Additionally, a demonstration of combined scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and in situ Raman spectroscopy microanalytical measurements of UF₄particulates shows that despite the inherent weak intensity of Raman bands, identification and characterization are possible for micron-sized particulates with modern instrumentation. The published well characterized UF₄ spectrum is extremely relevant to nuclear materials and nuclear safeguard applications.

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Research Organization:: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC09-08SR22470

OSTI ID:: 1254430

Report Number(s):: SRNL-L2200-2015-00086

Journal Information:: Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Journal Name: Journal of Raman Spectroscopy; ISSN 0377-0486

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 20 works

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Cited By (3)

UF ₄ and the High‐Pressure Polymorph HP‐UF ₄ Scheibe, Benjamin; Bruns, Jörn; Heymann, Gunter Chemistry – A European Journal, Vol. 25, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201900639	journal	March 2019
Raman spectroscopy: A tool to investigate alpha decay damage in a PuO ₂ crystal lattice and determining sample age since calcination Villa‐Aleman, Eliel; Houk, Amanda L.; Bridges, Nicholas J. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, Vol. 50, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/jrs.5591	journal	March 2019
Metastable electronic states in uranium tetrafluoride Miskowiec, Andrew Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 20, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cp07970b	journal	January 2018

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Title: Characterization of uranium tetrafluoride (UF₄) with Raman spectroscopy