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Thorium/uranium mixed oxide nanocrystals: Synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

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Abstract

One of the primary aims of the actinide community within nanoscience is to develop a good understanding similar to what is currently the case for stable elements. As a consequence, efficient, reliable and versatile synthesis techniques dedicated to the formation of new actinide-based nano-objects (e.g. nanocrystals) are necessary. Hence, a “library” dedicated to the preparation of various actinidebased nanoscale building blocks is currently being developed. Nanoscale building blocks with tunable sizes, shapes and compositions are of prime importance. So far, the non-aqueous synthesis method in highly coordinating organic media is the only approach which has demonstrated the capability to provide size and shape control of actinide-based nanocrystals (both for thorium and uranium, and recently extended to neptunium and plutonium). In this paper, we demonstrate that the non-aqueous approach is also well adapted to control the chemical composition of the nanocrystals obtained when mixing two different actinides. Indeed, the controlled hot co-injection of thorium acetylacetonate and uranyl acetate (together with additional capping agents) into benzyl ether can be used to synthesize thorium/uranium mixed oxide nanocrystals covering the full compositional spectrum. Additionally, we found that both size and shape are modified as a function of the thorium:uranium ratio. Finally, the magnetic properties of the different thorium/uranium mixed oxide nanocrystals were investigated. Contrary to several reports, we did not observe any ferromagnetic behavior. As a consequence, ferromagnetism cannot be described as a universal feature of nanocrystals of non-magnetic oxides as recently claimed in the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, P. O. Box 2340, 76125, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Damien Hudry, Jean-Christophe Griveau, Christos Apostolidis, Olaf Walter, Eric Colineau & Gert Rasmussen

  2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Nanotechnology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Di Wang, Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhaluna, Eglantine Courtois & Christian Kübel

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Di Wang & Christian Kübel

  4. Helmholtz Institute Ulm for Electrochemical Energy Storage, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069, Ulm, Germany

    Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhaluna

  5. UMR 5257, Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, BP 17171, 30207, Bagnols sur Cèze Cedex, France

    Daniel Meyer

  6. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Catalysis Research and Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Olaf Walter

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  1. Damien Hudry
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Correspondence to Damien Hudry or Jean-Christophe Griveau.

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Hudry, D., Griveau, JC., Apostolidis, C. et al. Thorium/uranium mixed oxide nanocrystals: Synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties. Nano Res. 7, 119–131 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0379-6

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