Heterogeneous aggregation of humic acids studied by small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering

斉藤 拓巳*; 元川 竜平; 大窪 貴洋*; 三浦 大輔*; 熊田 高之

Environmental Science & Technology, 57(26), p.9802 - 9810, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c02028

Aggregation of humic acids (HAs) were studied by small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. The combination of these techniques enables us to examine aggregation structures of heterogeneous HA particles. Two HAs with distinctive compositions were examined; a commercial HA (PAHA) and a HA extracted from deep sedimentary groundwater (HHA). While macroscopic coagulation tests showed that these HAs were stable in solutions except for HHA at pH 6, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed that they formed aggregates with the sizes exceeding sub-micrometer length scale. The SAXS curves of PAHA remarkably varied with pD, whereas the SANS curves did not. With the help of theoretical fittings, it was revealed that PAHA aggregates consisted of two domains: poorly hydrated cores and well-hydrated proton-rich shells. The cores are (dis)aggregated with pD inside the aggregates of the shell. The SANS and SAXS curves of HHA resemble each other, and their intensities at low q increased with a decrease of pD, indicating the formation of homogeneous aggregates. This study revealed that distinctive aggregation behaviors exist in humic substances with heterogeneous structures like PAHA, which is invaluable for their roles in the fate of contaminants or nutrients in aqueous environments.

スピンコントラスト変調中性子反射率法を用いた非対称界面の構造解析

熊田 高之; 三浦 大輔*; 阿久津 和宏*; 奥 隆之; 鳥飼 直也*; 新関 智丈*

波紋, 32(4), p.165 - 168, 2022/11

スピンコントラスト変調中性子反射率法を用いて樹脂と多孔質メチル化シリカ2層膜の構造解析を行った。ところが、一般的なガウス界面を用いる限り共通の構造パラメーターで複数の反射率曲線を再現することができなかった。そこで樹脂がメチル化シリカの空孔に侵入する割合を変えたところきれいに再現することができた。

Mass-resolved momentum imaging of three dichloroethylene isomers by femtosecond laser-induced coulomb explosion

和田 資子*; 赤木 浩*; 熊田 高之; 板倉 隆二*; 若林 知成*

Photochem (Internet), 2(3), p.798 - 809, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.3390/photochem2030051

フェムト秒レーザーを用いたジクロロエチレン異性体のクーロン爆発実験をおこなったところ、異性体間でClとCの異なる質量分解モーメンタムイメージングが得られた。

Nanoscopic structure of borosilicate glass with additives for nuclear waste vitrification

元川 竜平; 金子 耕士; 大場 洋次郎; 永井 崇之; 岡本 芳浩; 小林 大志*; 熊田 高之; Heller, W. T.*

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 578, p.121352_1 - 121352_7, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2021.121352

We investigated the nanoscopic structure of borosilicate glasses as a host for high-level radioactive liquid waste (HLLW) in the presence of the additives NaO and CaO/ZnO with and without LiO. These additives have been practically used to lower the glass melting point, suppress the macroscopic phase separation, and increase the chemical durability of glasses. Small-angle neutron scattering was used to elucidate the effect of the additives on the nanoscopic structure along with macro- and atomic-scale observations obtained using neutron imaging and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The borosilicate glass formed a microphase-separated structure of SiO- and BO-rich domains approximately 100 nm in size in the absence of NaO, even in a structure homogeneous on a millimeter scale, and the domain spacing decreased with increasing NaO content rate. The CaO/ZnO additives induced inhomogeneities, such as void structures several nanometers in size, although the inhomogeneity was suppressed by the coaddition of LiO. These results provide insights into the performance of host glasses for HLLW vitrification; incorporating HLLW into glasses is likely to cause changes in the nanoscopic structure of host glasses similar to those revealed here.

Development of spin-contrast-variation neutron powder diffractometry for extracting the structure factor of hydrogen atoms

三浦 大輔*; 熊田 高之; 関根 由莉奈; 元川 竜平; 中川 洋; 大場 洋次郎; 大原 高志; 高田 慎一; 廣井 孝介; 森川 利明*; et al.

Journal of Applied Crystallography, 54(2), p.454 - 460, 2021/04

AA2020-0724.pdf:2.05MB

https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576721000303

山形大学が原子核物理実験用に開発した結晶試料の核スピン偏極技術を、スピンコントラスト偏極中性子回折測定法に展開し、水素核偏極化されたグルタミン酸を用いて粉末結晶試料中の水素の配向および凝集・分散などの構造情報を抽出できることを実証した。

Development of spin-contrast-variation neutron reflectometry

熊田 高之; 阿久津 和宏*; 大石 一城*; 森川 利明*; 河村 幸彦*; 佐原 雅恵*; 鈴木 淳市*; 三浦 大輔*; 鳥飼 直也*

J-PARC 20-02; J-PARC MLF Annual Report 2019, p.38 - 40, 2021/00

https://j-parc.jp/researcher/MatLife/ja/publication/files/MLF-AR_2019.pdf

Neutron reflectivity (NR) is used to determine the nanostructure of surfaces and interfaces of thin film samples. NR has an ad-vantage over X-ray reflectivity for measuring deeply-buried interface of materials. However, it is difficult to determine the structure of complex multiple surface and interfaces of the thin film from a single reflectivity curve. To overcome the problem, we developed a new technique called spin-contrast-variation neutron reflectometry (SCV-NR), which utilizes the property that coherent polarized-neutron scattering length of a proton remarkably varies as a function of the proton polarization, PH, against the neutron polarization direction. As PH increases, the scattering length density (SLD) of each layer proportionally increases with the number density of protons, resulting in the variation of NR curves. The structure of multiple surface and interfaces of a thin film can be determined from the multiple curves.

Bromine-isotope selective ionization using field-free alignment of IBr isotopologues with a switched nanosecond laser pulse

赤木 浩*; 熊田 高之; 乙部 智仁*; 板倉 隆二*; 長谷川 宗良*; 大島 康裕*

Chemistry Letters, 49(4), p.416 - 418, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1246/cl.200024

We demonstrate isotope selective ionization of IBr and IBr isotopologues using field-free alignment induced by a linearly-polarized nanosecond laser pulse with rapid turn off at the maximum. Following the switched nanosecond pulse irradiation, a 60-fs laser pulse ionizes one of the isotopologues preferentially. The ion yield ratio (IBr)/(IBr) varies in the range of 0.93-1.06, depending on time delay between the pulses. This is the first demonstration of laser isotope separation of heavy elements using field-free alignment and angular dependent ionization.

Anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) study of irradiation-induced nanostructure change in Fe-ion beam irradiated oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steel

熊田 高之; 大場 洋次郎; 元川 竜平; 諸岡 聡; 冨永 亜希; 谷田 肇; 菖蒲 敬久; 金野 杏彩; 大和田 謙二*; 大野 直子*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 528, p.151890_1 - 151890_7, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151890

ステンレス鋼の放射線照射によるナノ構造変化観測用異常分散X線小角散乱(ASAXS)装置を開発した。イオンビーム照射前後のMA956試料の散乱パターンを比較したところ、Cr析出物の形状は全く変化していないことが判明した。

Development of dynamic nuclear polarization system for spin-contrast-variation neutron reflectometry

熊田 高之; 他7名*

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 22, p.011015_1 - 011015_5, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.22.011015

Conventional deuterium contrast variation neutron reflectometry (NR) sometimes misleads when the deuterated SIMULATION samples fail to reproduce the structure of the REAL ones by delicate techniques such as spin-coating. On the other hand, the Spin contrast variation (SCV)-NR determines the structure from PH-dependent NR profiles of REAL samples. Therefore, the SCV-NR works not only as a technique which omits the cost of deuterium substitution, but also as a reliable technique to determine multi-layered surface and interface structure.

偏極中性子と核偏極水素によるナノ構造解析技術の開発

熊田 高之

電子スピンサイエンス, 15(Autumn), p.86 - 91, 2017/10

AA2017-0225.pdf:1.67MB

付加価値の高い機能性材料開発の現場では、物理・化学的性質が異なる複数の素材をナノレベルで混合させることで互いの短所を補い長所を引き出した複合材料の開発が繰り広げられている。その複合材料の開発においては、成分間の相互作用を決定づける絡み合い構造の最適化がカギとなる。スピンコントラスト法とよばれる偏極中性子と水素核偏極試料を用いた構造解析法は、複合材料開発の指針となる成分毎のナノ構造および空間配置の決定を実現するものである。