TY - JOUR
T1 - Silicon and Zirconium Ceramics Radiolysis in the Presence of Water
AU - Hlushko, Hanna
AU - Huestis, Patricia L.
AU - LaVerne, Jay A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by DOE Basic energy Sciences through grant number DE-FC02-04ER15533. The authors thank Prof. Michael Wiescher for making available the facilities of the Notre Dame Nuclear Science Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grant Phys-0758100. The authors thank the ND Materials Characterization Facility for the use of the PHI VersaProbe II XPS, Confocal Raman Microscope Jasco NRS-5100, D8 Advance DAVINCI Bruker pXRD, and Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC1 instruments, and Hanna Matzner and Ian Lightcap for their assistance. We thank Ashley Hastings for help with pXRD analysis and Kiva Ford for glasswork assistance. This contribution is NDRL-5376 from the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2023/2/2
Y1 - 2023/2/2
N2 - Ceramic materials display several desirable characteristics for nuclear energy applications, and thus, understanding how they behave in a radiation field, particularly in accident scenarios, is necessary for their successful implementation. This work investigates the role of interfacial water on radiolytic processes occurring at the surface of silicon and zirconium carbides and nitrides. Modification of the surfaces and the effect of those surfaces on H2 production are investigated. All studied materials were found to have a layer of oxidation on the surface, and this oxidation layer affects H2 production. Radiolysis up to doses of 50 MGy was not found to affect the bulk material, and very few changes to the surface were observed. The amount of H2 produced during irradiation correlated with the amount of water adsorbed by the ceramics, and the importance of the ceramic surface decreased as the water fraction increased. The exact nature of the surface of these ceramics is therefore incredibly important when assessing the effects of radiation in accident scenarios.
AB - Ceramic materials display several desirable characteristics for nuclear energy applications, and thus, understanding how they behave in a radiation field, particularly in accident scenarios, is necessary for their successful implementation. This work investigates the role of interfacial water on radiolytic processes occurring at the surface of silicon and zirconium carbides and nitrides. Modification of the surfaces and the effect of those surfaces on H2 production are investigated. All studied materials were found to have a layer of oxidation on the surface, and this oxidation layer affects H2 production. Radiolysis up to doses of 50 MGy was not found to affect the bulk material, and very few changes to the surface were observed. The amount of H2 produced during irradiation correlated with the amount of water adsorbed by the ceramics, and the importance of the ceramic surface decreased as the water fraction increased. The exact nature of the surface of these ceramics is therefore incredibly important when assessing the effects of radiation in accident scenarios.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85147584809
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5b735a00-250e-3dd4-bda8-ad542847cc09/
U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c06787
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c06787
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85147584809
SN - 1932-7447
VL - 127
SP - 3194
EP - 3203
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
IS - 6
ER -