Molybdenum-99 (Mo) adsorption profile of zirconia-based materials for Mo/Tc generator application

Marlina*; Lestari, E.*; Abidin*; Hambali*; Saptiama, I.*; Febriana, S.*; Kadarisman*; Awaludin, R.*; Tanase, Masakazu*; Nishikata, Kaori  ; Tsuchiya, Kunihiko 

Technetium-99m (Tc) plays a major role in diagnostic nuclear medicine and has not yet been replaced with any other radionuclides. It is available through the Mo/Tc generator. The use of low-specific-activity Mo for Mo/Tc generator application requires high adsorptive capacity sorbents. This study focused on the determination of Mo adsorption capacity of several zirconia materials, namely monoclinic nanozirconia, orthorhombic nanozirconia, sulfated zirconia, and phosphated zirconia. These materials were synthesized by using the sol-gel method and characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The determination of Mo adsorption capacity of these materials was carried out by soaking the materials in a NaMoO solution with pH of 3 and 7, at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 90 C, for 1 and 3 hours. As a result, orthorhombic nano-zirconia was found to have the highest Mo adsorption performance and is considered to be a candidate material for Mo/Tc generator.