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Local and Electronic Structure of Americium‐Bearing PuO 2
Author(s) -
Prieur Damien,
CarvajalNunez Ursula,
Vitova Tonya,
Somers Joseph
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201201294
Subject(s) - chemistry , americium , fluorite , valence (chemistry) , sintering , x ray absorption spectroscopy , oxidation state , absorption spectroscopy , electronic structure , spectroscopy , solid state , x ray crystallography , crystallography , diffraction , inorganic chemistry , actinide , organic chemistry , computational chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , optics , catalysis
X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy have shown that a material composed of two (Pu,Am)O 2– x substoichiometric fluorite‐type structures is obtained by sintering in moisturized Ar/H 2 . The Pu oxidation state is strictly +IV, whereas Am exhibits a +III/+IV mixed valence. Thus, the Am–O system and particularly the Am oxidation state play a major role in the sintering behavior of the Pu–Am–O system. The heating of this compound in air leads to the formation of a fluorite Pu 0.80 Am 0.20 O 1.98 solid solution. The transition from a one‐phase to a two‐phase structure takes place at a temperature lower than 800 °C. The results were compared with previous studies on Am‐bearing UO 2 and ThO 2 , which have evidenced different behaviors.