Development of an electrochemistry apparatus for the heaviest elements

Toyoshima, Atsushi; Kasamatsu, Yoshitaka; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro  ; Tsukada, Kazuaki  ; Haba, Hiromitsu*; Shinohara, Atsushi*; Nagame, Yuichiro 

We developed a new apparatus for the study of electrochemical properties of the heaviest elements. The apparatus is based on a flow electrolytic cell combined with column chromatography. Glassy-carbon fibers modified with Nafion perfluorinated cation-exchange resin are used as a working electrode as well as a cation-exchanger. The elution behavior of Ce with the number of 10 atoms in 0.1 M ammonium -hydroxyisobutyric acid solution from the column electrode was investigated at the applied potentials of 0.2 - 1.0 V versus the Ag/Agcl reference electrode in 1.0 M LiCl. It was found that Ce is successfully oxidized to Ce even with tracer concentration at around the redox potential determined by cyclic voltammetry for the macro amounts of Ce with 10 atoms (10 M). The present oxidation reaction and separation of Ce was accomplished within a few minutes.