Microbially formed Mn(IV) oxide as a novel adsorbent for removal of Radium

Tanaka, Kazuya; Yamaji, Keiko*; Masuya, Hayato*; Tomita, Jumpei; Ozawa, Mayumi*; Yamasaki, Shinya*; Tokunaga, Kohei; Fukuyama, Kenjin*; Ohara, Yoshiyuki*; Maamoun, I.*; et al.

Chemosphere, 355, p.141837_1 - 141837_11, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141837

In this study, biogenic Mn(IV) oxide was applied to remove Ra from mine water collected from a U mill tailings pond in the Ningyo-toge center. Just 7.6 mg of biogenic Mn(IV) oxide removed more than 98% of the Ra from 3 L of mine water, corresponding to a distribution coefficient of 10 mL/g for Ra at pH 7. The obtained value was convincingly high for practical application of biogenic Mn(IV) oxide in water treatment.

Anomalous vortex dynamics in the spin-triplet superconductor UTe

Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Opletal, P.; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Kimata, Motoi*; Awaji, Satoshi*; Sasaki, Takahiko*; Yanase, Yoichi*; Haga, Yoshinori; et al.

Physical Review B, 108(14), p.144502_1 - 144502_5, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.144502

The vortex dynamics in the spin-triplet superconductor, UTe, are studied by measuring the DC electrical resistivity with currents along the -axis under magnetic fields along the -axis. Surprisingly, we have discovered an island region of low critical current deep inside the superconducting (SC) state, well below the SC upper critical field, attributed to a weakening of vortex pinning. Notably, this region coincides with the recently proposed intermediate-field SC state. We discuss the possibility of nonsingular vortices in the intermediate state, where SC order parameter does not vanish entirely in the vortex cores due to the mixing of multiple SC components.

Superconducting spin reorientation in spin-triplet multiple superconducting phases of UTe

Kinjo, Katsuki*; Fujibayashi, Hiroki*; Matsumura, Hiroki*; Hori, Fumiya*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Nakamura, Ai*; et al.

Science Advances (Internet), 9(30), p.2736_1 - 2736_6, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg2736

Low-temperature magnetic fluctuations investigated by Te-NMR on the uranium-based superconductor UTe

Fujibayashi, Hiroki*; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Nakamine, Genki*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Nakamura, Ai*; Shimizu, Yusei*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 92(5), p.053702_1 - 053702_5, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.92.053702

Field induced multiple superconducting phases in UTe along hard magnetic axis

Sakai, Hironori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Kimata, Motoi*; Awaji, Satoshi*; Sasaki, Takahiko*; Aoki, Dai*; Kambe, Shinsaku; Tokunaga, Yo; Haga, Yoshinori

Physical Review Letters, 130(19), p.196002_1 - 196002_6, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.196002

The superconducting (SC) phase diagram in uranium ditelluride is explored under magnetic fields () along the hard magnetic -axis using a high-quality single crystal with = 2.1 K. Simultaneous electrical resistivity and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements discern low- and high-field SC (LFSC and HFSC, respectively) phases with contrasting field-angular dependence. Crystal quality increases the upper critical field of the LFSC phase, but the of T, at which the HFSC phase appears, is always the same through the various crystals. A phase boundary signature is also observed inside the LFSC phase near , indicating an intermediate SC phase characterized by small flux pinning forces.

Improved immobilization of Re(VII) from aqueous solutions bimetallic Ni/Fe nanoparticles; Implications towards Tc(VII) removal

Maamoun, I.; Tokunaga, Kohei; Dohi, Terumi; Kanno, Futoshi*; Falyouna, O.*; Eljamal, O.*; Tanaka, Kazuya

Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering (Internet), 2, p.1142823_1 - 1142823_17, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnuen.2023.1142823

Recently, the rapid development of nuclear power technologies and the continuous energy demand around the world exhibited massive amounts of contaminated water with radionuclides. Technetium-99 (Tc) is one of the long-lived radionuclides with a highly mobile anionic form (Tc(VII)) in aqueous solutions. Hence, the rapid and efficient Tc(VII) removal from radioactive water has emerged as a challenging issue. In this work, bimetallic nickel/iron nanoparticles (Ni/Fe) were prepared to enhance the immobilization of rhenium (Re(VII)) from aqueous solutions, as the surrogate of Tc(VII).

Improvement of the stability of IO-, SeO-, and SeO-coprecipitated barite after treatment with phosphate

Tokunaga, Kohei; Tanaka, Kazuya; Takahashi, Yoshio*; Kozai, Naofumi

Environmental Science & Technology, 57(8), p.3166 - 3175, 2023/02

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c08939

Coprecipitation of radionuclides with barite has been studied to remove radionuclides from radioactive liquid waste because of its excellent removal efficiency; however, little information exists concerning the stability of the ions coprecipitated with barite. This study systematically investigated the stability of iodate, selenite, and selenate coprecipitated with barite via leaching tests. These oxyanions were gradually leached from the oxyanion-bearing barite into ultrapure water over time. Leaching of the oxyanions significantly increased in leaching solutions containing NaCl (pH5.3), NaNO (pH5.9), and NaSO (pH5.7). Conversely, leaching of the oxyanions was suppressed in KHPO solution (pH8.5), indicating that phosphate stabilized the oxyanion-bearing barite. The effect of phosphate treatment on oxyanion-bearing barite was further investigated. The results showed that the barite surface was modified with phosphate, and a thin surface layer of a barium phosphate-like structure was formed. The amount of oxyanions leached from the phosphate-treated samples into leaching solutions containing NaCl or NaNO was much lower than the amounts leached from the untreated barite samples into ultrapure water. The barite coprecipitation combined with subsequent phosphate treatment may be a promising method to efficiently remove iodate, selenite, and selenate from wastewater and stabilize them as barite coprecipitates.

Arsenic and iron speciation and binding in the surface soils in Ningyo-toge mill tailings pond using X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy

Tokunaga, Kohei; Takahashi, Yoshio*; Kozai, Naofumi

Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences (Internet), 23, p.14 - 19, 2023/00

Nested antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and non-Fermi-liquid behavior in electron-doped CeCoNiIn

Sakai, Hironori; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku; Zhu, J.-X.*; Ronning, F.*; Thompson, J. D.*; Kotegawa, Hisashi*; To, Hideki*; Suzuki, Kohei*; Oshima, Yoshiki*; et al.

Physical Review B, 106(23), p.235152_1 - 235152_8, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.235152

We investigate the electronic state of Ni-substituted CeCoNiIn by nuclear quadrupole and magnetic resonance (NQR/NMR) techniques. The heavy fermion superconductivity below K for is suppressed by Ni substitutions, and reaches zero for . The In NQR spectra for and 0.25 can be explained by simulating the electrical field gradient that is calculated for a virtual supercell with density functional theory. The spin-lattice relaxation rate indicates that Ni substitution weakens antiferromagnetic correlations that are not localized near the substituent but instead are uniform in space. The temperature () dependence of for shows a maximum around K and decreases toward almost zero when temperature is further reduced as if a gap might be opening in the magnetic excitation spectrum; however, the magnetic specific heat and the static magnetic susceptibility evolve smoothly through with a dependence. The peculiar T dependence of and non-Fermi-liquid specific heat and susceptibility can be interpreted in a unified way by assuming nested antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations in a quasi-two-dimensional electronic system.

Unconventional superconductivity in UTe

Aoki, Dai*; Brison, J.-P.*; Flouquet, J.*; Ishida, Kenji*; Knebel, G.*; Tokunaga, Yo; Yanase, Yoichi*

Journal of Physics; Condensed Matter, 34(24), p.243002_1 - 243002_41, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ac5863