Exploring the potential use of silver-exchanged zeolites for adsorption of radon traces in low background experiments

Abstract

Radon is an important source of radioactive background in experiments searching for rare decays and in the field of low energy particle physics. Here, we report the first temperature-dependent study of radon adsorption on silver-exchanged zeolites from several commercial producers. Among the three tested zeolites, Ag-ETS-10 showed the best result. Hence, it was chosen for the further study of internal radioactivity and radon emanation, that are important characteristics of materials used in low-activity experiments. The important role of silver in radon adsorption is demonstrated by comparison of the silver-exchanged zeolites with their unexchanged counterparts. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent measurements showed that the enhancement of the radon adsorption upon the introduction of silver in zeolite occurs due to the increase of the heat of adsorption. This opens a new perspective for the search for highly efficient radon adsorbents.