X-Ray Absorption Studies of Local Structure of Dilute Ionic Species in Molten Salts

Kaifeng Zheng; Nirmalendu Patra; Nicholas Marcella; Alexander S. Ivanov; James F. Wishart; Alejandro R. Ballesteros; Ruchi Gakhar; Sheng Dai; Santanu Roy; Vyacheslav Bryantsev; Simerjeet K. Gill; Anatoly I. Frenkel

doi:10.1002/cmtd.202400097

X-Ray Absorption Studies of Local Structure of Dilute Ionic Species in Molten Salts

Kaifeng Zheng, Nirmalendu Patra, Nicholas Marcella, Alexander S. Ivanov, James F. Wishart, Alejandro R. Ballesteros, Ruchi Gakhar, Sheng Dai, Santanu Roy, Vyacheslav Bryantsev, Simerjeet K. Gill, Anatoly I. Frenkel

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Molten salts are crucial materials with exceptional properties that make them suitable for applications such as heat transfer media, coolants, and liquid fuels in molten salt nuclear reactors and the concentrated solar power industry. Understanding their properties requires unraveling the intricate mysteries of their structure. To achieve this, advanced characterization tools are essential. Among various techniques, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) stands out as a versatile method capable of studying the structure of molten salts under in situ conditions. This review highlights recent advancements in the application of XAFS for investigating the local structure of molten salts, discusses its limitations and potential improvements, and explores complementary approaches such as simulations, machine learning, and correlative experimental methods.

Original language	English
Journal	Chemistry-Methods
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/cmtd.202400097
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

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 (DOE), Office of Science., Brookhaven Natinal Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are operated under DOE contract nos. DE\u2010SC0012704, DEAC07\u201005ID14517, and DE\u2010AC05\u201000OR22725, respectively. This research used resources of the 8\u2010ID and 28\u2010ID\u20101 beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source II operated by the Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DESC0012704, a U.S. DOE, Office of Science User Facility. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A portion of this research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source at beamline 12\u2010BM, operated by Argonne National Laboratory under contract no. DE\u2010AC02\u201006CH11357. This research used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which are supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. DOE under contract nos. DE\u2010AC05\u201000OR22725 and DE\u2010AC02\u201005CH11231, respectively.

Keywords

X-ray absorption spectroscopies
characterizations
metal ions
molten salts
structures–properties

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10.1002/cmtd.202400097

Cite this

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title = "X-Ray Absorption Studies of Local Structure of Dilute Ionic Species in Molten Salts",

abstract = "Molten salts are crucial materials with exceptional properties that make them suitable for applications such as heat transfer media, coolants, and liquid fuels in molten salt nuclear reactors and the concentrated solar power industry. Understanding their properties requires unraveling the intricate mysteries of their structure. To achieve this, advanced characterization tools are essential. Among various techniques, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) stands out as a versatile method capable of studying the structure of molten salts under in situ conditions. This review highlights recent advancements in the application of XAFS for investigating the local structure of molten salts, discusses its limitations and potential improvements, and explores complementary approaches such as simulations, machine learning, and correlative experimental methods.",

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language = "English",

journal = "Chemistry-Methods",

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AU - Zheng, Kaifeng

AU - Patra, Nirmalendu

AU - Marcella, Nicholas

AU - Ivanov, Alexander S.

AU - Wishart, James F.

AU - Ballesteros, Alejandro R.

AU - Gakhar, Ruchi

AU - Dai, Sheng

AU - Roy, Santanu

AU - Bryantsev, Vyacheslav

AU - Gill, Simerjeet K.

AU - Frenkel, Anatoly I.

PY - 2025

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N2 - Molten salts are crucial materials with exceptional properties that make them suitable for applications such as heat transfer media, coolants, and liquid fuels in molten salt nuclear reactors and the concentrated solar power industry. Understanding their properties requires unraveling the intricate mysteries of their structure. To achieve this, advanced characterization tools are essential. Among various techniques, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) stands out as a versatile method capable of studying the structure of molten salts under in situ conditions. This review highlights recent advancements in the application of XAFS for investigating the local structure of molten salts, discusses its limitations and potential improvements, and explores complementary approaches such as simulations, machine learning, and correlative experimental methods.

AB - Molten salts are crucial materials with exceptional properties that make them suitable for applications such as heat transfer media, coolants, and liquid fuels in molten salt nuclear reactors and the concentrated solar power industry. Understanding their properties requires unraveling the intricate mysteries of their structure. To achieve this, advanced characterization tools are essential. Among various techniques, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) stands out as a versatile method capable of studying the structure of molten salts under in situ conditions. This review highlights recent advancements in the application of XAFS for investigating the local structure of molten salts, discusses its limitations and potential improvements, and explores complementary approaches such as simulations, machine learning, and correlative experimental methods.

KW - X-ray absorption spectroscopies

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KW - molten salts

KW - structures–properties

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X-Ray Absorption Studies of Local Structure of Dilute Ionic Species in Molten Salts

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Keywords

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