Radiochemical separation of rhenium(VII) from tungsten(VI)

The absorption of rhenium(VII) and tungsten(VI) ions on Al₂O₃ from HCl, HClO₄, HNO₃, H₂SO₄, H₃PO₄, NaOH, NH₄OH, NaCl, NaF, and Na-tartarate solutions by batch equilibration, as well as by passage through a chromatographic column, has been studied. The results show that rhenium(VII) can be effectively separated from tungsten(VI) using any of the acid or salt solutions investigated. The experimental data allowed to develop a simple procedure for the radiochemical separation of rhenium isotopes from an irradiated WO₃ sample.     

The determination of theK-shell fluorescence yield of antimony using the proportional counter techniques

From the spectra of electrons emitted in photoelectric absorption of europiumKα radiation in antimony, theK-shell fluorescence yield was determined asω _K =0.873±0.010. A multiwire proportional counter filled with methane and a small admixture of stibine, SbH₃, was employed as a spectrometer.     

The structure of compositionally constrained zinc-ferrite spinel nanoparticles

ZnFe₂O₄ bulk material shows a normal-spinel structure and a closely defined composition at Zn²⁺/Fe³⁺ ≅ 0.5. However, the composition of zinc ferrite, prepared as nanoparticles, can be varied in a broad range without losing the single-phase spinel structure. In this article, structural mechanisms enabling this non-stoichiometry were studied using the X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) in combination with X-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements. Nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution were synthesized using co-precipitation in water-in-oil microemulsions. First, the structure of the stoichiometric zinc-ferrite nanoparticles was studied in dependence of their size and the annealing temperature. EXAFS analysis showed that the degree of inversion x (as defined in the compound formula (Zn_1 − x Fe _x )[Fe_2 − x Zn _x ]O₄, with round and square brackets representing the tetrahedral and octahedral sites, respectively) increased with decreasing nanoparticles size. The structure of the stoichiometric nanoparticles and the nanoparticles of comparable size displaying Zn/Fe ratio of 0.2 (Fe-rich) and 0.7 (Zn-rich) were then compared. Analysis showed that the non-stoichiometry is structurally compensated predominantly in the core of the nanoparticle by the adjusted distribution of Zn and Fe ions over the two sublattices of the spinel structure.