Measurement of neodymium(III) and samarium(III) by spectrophotometer and laser-induced photoacoustic spectroscopic system: A Preliminary study for speciation of aqueous Np(IV) species.

Kitamura, Akira  ; not registered

Spectroscopic measurements of neodymium(III) and samarium(III) were carried out by spectrophotometer and laser-induced photoacoustic spectroscopic (LPAS) system for the investigation of the detection limit of both systems. The absorption spectra and photoacoustic spectra of Nd and Sm were obtained with varying the concentration of the ions from 210 to 210 moldm. The absorption spectrum of Nd was also determined by a special spectrophotometer, of which the measurement cell was set in a glove box filled with inert nitrogen gas. For the comparison with these photoacoustic and absorption spectra, the absorption spectra of Nd and Sm were determined by an usual spectrophotometer with the light-path lengths of 1 cm and 10 cm. The detection limit of the photoacoustic measurement was reported much lower than that of absorbance measurement by several researchers. However, the present study was concluded that the detection limit of photoacoustic measurement with the present LPAS system was similar to that of absorbance measurement with the light-path length of 10 cm. The detection limits of neptunium(IV,V) were estimated and the possibility of the speciation of neptunium(IV) was discussed from the results of the present study.