Quantum critical behavior of the hyperkagome magnet MnCoSi

Yamauchi, Hiroki; Sari, D. P.*; Yasui, Yukio*; Sakakura, Terutoshi*; Kimura, Hiroyuki*; Nakao, Akiko*; Ohara, Takashi; Honda, Takashi*; Kodama, Katsuaki; Igawa, Naoki; et al.

Physical Review Research (Internet), 6(1), p.013144_1 - 013144_9, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.013144

Evaluation of physicochemical properties of radioactive cesium in municipal solid waste incineration fly ash by particle size classification and leaching tests

Fujii, Kengo*; Ochi, Kotaro; Obuchi, Atsushi*; Koike, Yuya*

Journal of Environmental Management, 217, p.157 - 163, 2018/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.03.028

After the Fukushima Daiichi-Nuclear Power Plant accident, environmental recovery was a major issue because a considerable amount of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash was highly contaminated with radioactive cesium. In this study, MSWI fly ash was sampled in Fukushima Prefecture, and the physicochemical properties of radioactive cesium in MSWI fly ash were evaluated by particle size classification and the Japanese leaching test No. 13 (JLT-13). The results obtained from the classification of fly ash indicated that the activity concentration of radioactive cesium and the content of the coexisting matter (i.e., chloride, potassium, and sylvite) temporarily change in response to the particle size of fly ash. X-ray diffraction results indicated that water-soluble radioactive cesium exists as CsCl because of the cooling process and that insoluble cesium is bound to the inner sphere of amorphous matter.

Structural changes of water in poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel during dehydration

Kudo, Kushi*; Ishida, Junichi*; Syuu, G.*; Sekine, Yurina; Fukazawa, Tomoko*

Journal of Chemical Physics, 140(4), p.044909_1 - 044909_8, 2014/01

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862996

To investigate the mechanism of structural changes of water and polymer networks with drying and swelling, we measured the Raman spectra of a physically cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel synthesized using the freezing thawing method. On the basis of the dependence of the frequency shifts on the PVA concentration of the original solution, it was found that the structure of the polymer network in the reswollen hydrogel becomes inhomogeneous due to shrinkage of the polymer network with drying. Furthermore, to investigate the effects of the cross-linking structure on the drying process, these results were compared with those of a chemically cross-linked PVA hydrogel synthesized using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linker. The results show that the structures of the polymer network and water change with the gel preparation process, cross-linking method, and drying and reswelling processes.

Structure of water and ice in poly-N,N,-dimethylacrylamide hydrogel

Sekine, Yurina; Fukazawa, Tomoko*; Yamauchi, Hiroki; Songxue, C.*; Chakoumakos, B.*; Fernandez-Baca, J. A.*; Fukazawa, Hiroshi

no journal, , 

Neutron diffraction data of deuterated poly-N,N,-dimethylacrylamide (PDMAA) hydrogel were measured at temperatures of 10 - 290 K in order to investigate the structure and properties of water in the hydrogel. Diffraction peaks observed below 270 K indicate the existence of a solid ice in the hydrogel. The positions of some peaks from the ice are lower than those in ordinary hexagonal ice (Ih). The lower shifts of the peaks indicates that the lattice constants of the c-axis in the ice are about 0.3% higher than those in ice Ih, whereas those of the a-axis are almost consist. The results show that bulk of a low-density ice crystal exists in the PDMAA hydrogel. The water molecules, which have a significant interaction with the polymer chains, play an important role in the chemical and mechanical properties of the hydrogel.