Production of 122Sb for the study of environmental pollution

This article presents, ¹²²Sb (T _1/2 = 2.723 days, I _β- = 97.59%) was produced via the ^natSn(p,xn) nuclear process at the AMIRS (Cyclone-30, IBA, Belgium). The electrodeposition experiments were carried out by potassium stannate trihydrate (K₂Sn(OH)₆) and potassium hydroxide. The optimum conditions of the electrodeposition of tin were as follows: 40 g/L ^natSn, 20 g/L KOH, 115 g/L K₂Sn(OH)₆, DC current density of 5 A/dm² with a bath temperature of 75 °C. The electroplated Tin-target was irradiated with 26.5 MeV protons at current of 180 μA for 20 min. Solvent extraction of no-carrier-added ¹²²Sb from irradiated Tin-natural target hydrochloric solution was investigated using di-n-butyl ether (C₈H₁₈O). Yields of about 3.61 MBq/μAh were experimentally obtained.