Separation of 109Cd from silver targets by nanohematite

Abstract

Abstract 109Cd was produced at a cyclotron vianatAg(p, n) 109Cd reaction by irradiation of an electroplated target with 15 MeV protons. The obtained yield was 70 kBq/μA h. The separation was performed using hematite nano-particles as sorbent which were synthesized by a solid-state chemical reaction method. The effect of different parameters, such as pH and the sorbent concentration, on extraction efficiency were investigated. The phase morphology, nanostructure and size of nano-particles were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical and radionuclidic purity of 109Cd was determined by ICP-AES and HPGe detector gamma-ray spectrometry, respectively.