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Photocatalytic Conversion of Am(III) to Am(VI) Using a TiO2Electrode

  • Matthew V. Sheridan
  • , Johan R. Gonzalez-Moya
  • , Jeffrey R. McLachlan
  • , Travis S. Grimes
  • , Christopher J. Dares

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Titanium-titania (Ti|TiO2) nanostructured electrodes in 0.1 M HNO3 solutions under UV-light illumination using a 375 nm LED and a 1.55 V vs SCE bias photoelectrochemically oxidize Am(III) to Am(VI) (AmVIO22+). Oxidation occurs through photoelectrochemically generated adsorbed hydroxyl radicals (2.81 V vs SCE) and/or direct electron transfer between the excited-state electrode (E(TiO2VB*) = ca. 2.95 V vs SCE) and Am(III) (E(AmIV/III) = 2.62 V). An electrochemically irreversible but chemically reversible electrochemical process at 1.60 V vs SCE is assigned to the one-electron Am(VI/V) couple. This system may be applied to used nuclear fuel reprocessing to separate actinides of concern (U, Np, Pu, and Am), where Am is the most significant challenge.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11854-11857
Number of pages4
JournalACS Applied Energy Materials
Volume4
Issue number10
Early online dateSep 30 2021
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 25 2021

Keywords

  • actinides
  • americium
  • electrochemistry
  • oxides
  • photoelectrocatalysis
  • redox reactions
  • semiconductors

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