The Debye Temperature for Hydrothermally Grown ThO₂ Single Crystals

Abstract

The electronic properties of ThO 2 single crystals were studied using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS results show that the Th 4f core level is in an oxidation state that is consistent with that expected for Th in ThO 2 . The effective Debye temperature is estimated from the temperature dependent photoemission intensities of the Th 4f core level over the temperature range of 290 to 360 K. A Debye temperature of 468±32 K has been determined.

The Debye Temperature of a Single Crystal Thorium–Uranium Dioxide Alloy

“…In Figure a the thorium binding energies (denoted as E F − E ), appear at 334.4 and 343.7 eV for Th 4 f 7/2 and Th 4 f 5/2 , respectively and are consistent with the reported binding energies of refs. . The room temperature uranium binding energies (also denoted as E F − E ) occur at 391.3 and 380.3 eV for U 4 f 7/2 and U 4 f 5/2 , respectively and are consistent with the reported binding energies of 390.8 and 380.8 eV and 390.9 and 380.1 eV …”

The unoccupied electronic structure characterization of hydrothermally grown ThO2 single crystals

“…The crystal structure was confirmed by XRD and then through the rocking curves, oriented in the (200) direction, as found in other Ref. 9–12. Before analysis, the crystals were cleaned using an organic solution of mixed crown ethers and picric acid.…”

Electronic structure of hydrothermally synthesized single crystal U0.22Th0.78O2

“…The U 0.22 Th 0.78 O 2 single crystal studied in this research was hydrothermally synthesized kinetically in a supercritical 9 M CsF mineralizer as detailed elsewhere . The structure of U 0.22 Th 0.78 O 2 was confirmed as a fluorite crystal lattice through X‐ray diffraction as previously for other refractory oxides grown through by this method, such as ThO 2 and HfO 2 . The previous studies of ThO 2 obtained through this technique indicated that the surface can have near surface regions of impurity deposits resulting from cooling the hydrothermal solution.…”

“…This was followed by the synthesis and structural confirmation of U x Th 1– x O 2 single crystal alloys . While the ThO 2 single crystal band structure has been studied , to our knowledge, the U x Th 1– x O 2 has not been extensively studied beyond colloids, theoretical calculations, or cursory diffraction measurements . Of particular interest is the role of the U 5 f band when included into the ThO 2 matrix.…”