Electrochemistry of the heaviest elements at JAEA

Toyoshima, Atsushi

Electrochemical studies of the heaviest elements carried out at JAEA will be presented. We have so far studied the oxidation of nobelium (No) and the reduction of mendelevium (Md) using a flow electrolytic column (FEC) apparatus. In these experiments, thin glassy carbon fibers modified with ion-exchange resin were employed as a working electrode as well as a cation-exchanger to identify oxidation states of single atoms. Chromatograms of No and Md produced in the Cm(C, 5n) and Cm(B, 4n) reactions, respectively, at the JAEA tandem accelerator were varied with increasing the applied potential on the working electrode. This proved that redox reactions of No and Md occur in the studied potential ranges. Recently, we newly started exploring electrochemical reduction of Sg using a new chemistry assembly consisting of a membrane degasser, a FEC, the continuous liquid-liquid extraction apparatus. In the congress, results on these electrochemistry experiments will be presented.