Radiation-Assisted Formation of Metal Nanoparticles in Molten Salts

Elaine T. Dias; Simerjeet K. Gill; Yang Liu; Phillip Halstenberg; Sheng Dai; Jiahao Huang; Julia Mausz; Ruchi Gakhar; William C. Phillips; Shannon Mahurin; Simon M. Pimblott; James F. Wishart; Anatoly I. Frenkel

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03231

Radiation-Assisted Formation of Metal Nanoparticles in Molten Salts

Elaine T. Dias, Simerjeet K. Gill, Yang Liu, Phillip Halstenberg, Sheng Dai, Jiahao Huang, Julia Mausz, Ruchi Gakhar, William C. Phillips, Shannon Mahurin, Simon M. Pimblott, James F. Wishart, Anatoly I. Frenkel

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18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Knowledge of structural and thermal properties of molten salts is crucial for understanding and predicting their stability in many applications such as thermal energy storage and nuclear energy systems. Probing the behavior of metal contaminants in molten salts is presently limited to either foreign ionic species or metal nanocrystals added to the melt. To bridge the gap between these two end states and follow the nucleation and growth of metal species in molten salt environment in situ, we use synchrotron X-rays as both a source of solvated electrons for reducing Ni2+ ions added to ZnCl2 melt and as an atomic-level probe for detecting formation of zerovalent Ni nanoparticles. By combining extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis with X-ray absorption near edge structure modeling, we obtained the average size and structure of the nanoparticles and proposed a radiation-induced reduction mechanism of metal ions in molten salts.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	157-164
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03231
State	Published - Jan 14 2021

Funding

This work was supported as part of the Molten Salts in Extreme Environments Energy Frontier Research Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. BNL, INL, and ORNL are operated under DOE contracts DE-SC0012704, DE-AC07-05ID14517, and DE-AC05-00OR22725, respectively. This research used resources of the ISS (8-ID) beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II operated by BNL under Contract No. DE-SC0012704, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility. The FEFF simulations used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science Facility, and the Scientific Data and Computing Center, a component of the Computational Science Initiative, at BNL under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. The authors thank Drs. Eli Stavitski and Mehmet Topsakal for help with XAS data collection, and Mr. Bobby Layne for help with the design and operation of the in situ XAS furnace.

Funders	Funder number
Molten Salts in Extreme Environments Energy Frontier Research Center
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Brookhaven National Laboratory	DE-SC0012704
Brookhaven National Laboratory

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abstract = "Knowledge of structural and thermal properties of molten salts is crucial for understanding and predicting their stability in many applications such as thermal energy storage and nuclear energy systems. Probing the behavior of metal contaminants in molten salts is presently limited to either foreign ionic species or metal nanocrystals added to the melt. To bridge the gap between these two end states and follow the nucleation and growth of metal species in molten salt environment in situ, we use synchrotron X-rays as both a source of solvated electrons for reducing Ni2+ ions added to ZnCl2 melt and as an atomic-level probe for detecting formation of zerovalent Ni nanoparticles. By combining extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis with X-ray absorption near edge structure modeling, we obtained the average size and structure of the nanoparticles and proposed a radiation-induced reduction mechanism of metal ions in molten salts.",

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AU - Dai, Sheng

AU - Huang, Jiahao

AU - Mausz, Julia

AU - Gakhar, Ruchi

AU - Phillips, William C.

AU - Mahurin, Shannon

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AU - Wishart, James F.

AU - Frenkel, Anatoly I.

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Radiation-Assisted Formation of Metal Nanoparticles in Molten Salts

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