Electrochemical and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Signal Fusion for Detection of UCl_3-GdCl_3-MgCl_2 in LiCl-KCl Molten Salt

摘要

This study sets out to demonstrate the capability of using electrochemistry and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for concentration prediction of multiple species in a molten salt system at 773 K. Samples contained UCl_3 ranging from 0 to 10 wt%, GdCl_3 ranging from 0 to 5 wt%, and MgCl_2 ranging from 0 to 1.5 wt%, with LiCl-KCl eutectic salt as the remainder. Multivariate models were produced using semi-differential cyclic voltammograms (SDCVs) and normalized spectra acquired from LIBS. The SDCV model best predicted UCl_3 levels, while the LIBS model best predicted GdCl_3 and MgCl_2 concentrations. A third model was developed by fusing the SDCV and LIBS signals. This model predicted UCl_3 well and predicted GdCl_3 and MgCl_2 better than previous models. This model was then evaluated by using blind samples. The model predictions correlated well with inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy measurements, passing a t-test at a 95% confidence level.