Development of an electrochemistry apparatus for the heaviest elements

摘要

We developed a new apparatus for the study of electrochemical properties of the heaviest elements. The apparatus is based on a flow electrolytic cell combined with column chromatography. Glassy-carbon fibers modified with Nafion perfluorinated cation-exchange resin are used as a working electrode as well as a cation-exchanger. The elution behavior of Ce-139 with the number of 10(10) atoms in 0.1 M ammonium alpha-hydroxyisobutyric acid solution from the column electrode was investigated at the applied potentials of 0.2-1.0V versus the Ag/AgCl reference electrode in 1.0M LiCl. It was found that Ce-139(3+) is successfully oxidized to Ce-139(4+) even with tracer concentration at around the redox potential determined by cyclic voltammetry for the macro amounts of Ce with 10(17) atoms (10(-3) M). The present oxidation reaction and separation of Ce4+ was accomplished within a few minutes.