Dissertation
ELECTROCHEMICAL PRECEONCENTRATION OF LANTHANIDES AND ACTINIDES
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111564
Abstract
This research aims to develop an electrochemical means to preconcentration lanthanide and actinide material. The use of mercury amalgams has been used to form rare-earth amalgams using mercury pool electrodes as well as rotating disk electrodes and even microelectrodes. This work leverages the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance to determine the mechanism by which lanthanides and actinides can be preconcentrated on bare electrode surfaces. The mechanism of preconcentration was investigated using pH microelectrodes and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The film formation for lanthanum was determined to be pH dependent and the chemical state to be lanthanum tri-hydroxide. In the presence of ligand α-hydroxyisobutyric acid, the chemical state of the lanthanum precipitate was determined to be lanthanum oxide. These discoveries were translated to investigate the deposition of Neptunium-237 on carbon eQCM electrodes using a micro electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance reactor (μeQCM). The μeQCM was demonstrated as a useful tool to apply coupled electrochemical techniques to small volume experiments. We observed the successful Np deposition down to 6×10-7 M concentrations. Further optimization may increase the percent yield of the Np from acidic solutions.
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Details
- Title
- ELECTROCHEMICAL PRECEONCENTRATION OF LANTHANIDES AND ACTINIDES
- Creators
- Adan Schafer Medina
- Contributors
- Haluk Beyenal (Advisor)Cornelius F. Ivory (Committee Member)Nathalie A. Wall (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 123
- Identifiers
- 99900581706401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation