Experimental Study on Preparation of Some Lanthanide and ²³⁸U Targets by Using Single cycle Molecular Plating Method

Key words: 
• molecular plating /
• target /
• spectrophotometry /
• preparation

Abstract: Preparation of La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb and 238U targets from the mixture of isopropanol and nitric acid solution are studied by using singlecycle molecular plating technique. To determine the optimum conditions for the deposition process, the effect of current density, deposition time and distance between the two electrodes on the quality and electrodeposition yield of the target films are investigated individually. Depending on the deposited metal, the current densities are found to be 2—8 mA/cm2 and the suitable distance between the two electrodes is 3 cm. With the spectrophotometry method, the electrodeposition yields for all the targets prepared are found to be higher than 85% after one hour’s deposition. The composition and morphological structure of some targets are characterized by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and it can be seen that the surface of the targets are uniform and intact. Shortlived isotopes of Ta and W were produced from natural Gd and Tb targets bombarded by 19F beam at the SFC low energy radiochemical terminal of Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, respectively, and successfully applied in the model experiment of Db(Z=105) and Sg(Z=106).