On the adsorption and reactivity of element 114, flerovium - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.3389/fchem.2022.976635. eCollection 2022.

L Lens 1 3, Ch E Düllmann 1 2 3, J Khuyagbaatar 1 2, E Jäger 1, J Krier 1, J Runke 1 3, H M Albers 1, M Asai 4, M Block 1 2 3, J Despotopulos 5, A Di Nitto 1 3, K Eberhardt 3, U Forsberg 6, P Golubev 6, M Götz 1 2 3, S Götz 1 2 3, H Haba 7, L Harkness-Brennan 8, R-D Herzberg 8, F P Heßberger 1 2, D Hinde 9, A Hübner 1, D Judson 8, B Kindler 1, Y Komori 7, J Konki 10, J V Kratz 3, N Kurz 1, M Laatiaoui 1 2 3, S Lahiri 11, B Lommel 1, M Maiti 12, A K Mistry 1 2, Ch Mokry 2 3, K J Moody 5, Y Nagame 4, J P Omtvedt 13, P Papadakis 8, V Pershina 1, D Rudolph 6, L G Samiento 6, T K Sato 4, M Schädel 1, P Scharrer 1 2 3, B Schausten 1, D A Shaughnessy 5, J Steiner 1, P Thörle-Pospiech 2 3, A Toyoshima 4, N Trautmann 3, K Tsukada 4, J Uusitalo 10, K-O Voss 1, A Ward 8, M Wegrzecki 14, N Wiehl 2 3, E Williams 9, V Yakusheva 1 2

Affiliations

On the adsorption and reactivity of element 114, flerovium

A Yakushev et al. Front Chem. 2022.

Abstract

Flerovium (Fl, element 114) is the heaviest element chemically studied so far. To date, its interaction with gold was investigated in two gas-solid chromatography experiments, which reported two different types of interaction, however, each based on the level of a few registered atoms only. Whereas noble-gas-like properties were suggested from the first experiment, the second one pointed at a volatile-metal-like character. Here, we present further experimental data on adsorption studies of Fl on silicon oxide and gold surfaces, accounting for the inhomogeneous nature of the surface, as it was used in the experiment and analyzed as part of the reported studies. We confirm that Fl is highly volatile and the least reactive member of group 14. Our experimental observations suggest that Fl exhibits lower reactivity towards Au than the volatile metal Hg, but higher reactivity than the noble gas Rn.

Keywords: adsorption; element 114; nuclear chemistry; radiochemistry; recoil separators; superheavy elements.

Copyright © 2022 Yakushev, Lens, Düllmann, Khuyagbaatar, Jäger, Krier, Runke, Albers, Asai, Block, Despotopulos, Di Nitto, Eberhardt, Forsberg, Golubev, Götz, Götz, Haba, Harkness-Brennan, Herzberg, Heßberger, Hinde, Hübner, Judson, Kindler, Komori, Konki, Kratz, Kurz, Laatiaoui, Lahiri, Lommel, Maiti, Mistry, Mokry, Moody, Nagame, Omtvedt, Papadakis, Pershina, Rudolph, Samiento, Sato, Schädel, Scharrer, Schausten, Shaughnessy, Steiner, Thörle-Pospiech, Toyoshima, Trautmann, Tsukada, Uusitalo, Voss, Ward, Wegrzecki, Wiehl, Williams and Yakusheva.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1

Experimental setup at TASCA and deposition pattern of 288,289Fl as well as 186Pb, 182-184Hg, and 219Rn: The detection setup allowed the separation of non-volatile metals (Pb, blue bars) from volatile metals (Hg, green bars) and noble gases (Rn, white bars). The positions of Fl decays observed in three TASCA runs (Yakushev et al., 2014, this work) are shown as red bars. Numbers in red refer to the decay chains presented in Figure 2. The setup consisted of two Au-coated COMPACT arrays (yellow) in the first (Yakushev et al., 2014) and in the last Fl experiment. In the second run, a third COMPACT detector array (indicated by the dashed black rectangle), coated with SiO2 (grey), was added in front of the two Au-coated (yellow) arrays. A 5-cm PTFE tube (inner diameter 4 mm) connected the first COMPACT detector with the RTC. The following COMPACT detector(s) was (were) connected via a 30-cm long PTFE capillary (inner diameter 2 mm). A negative temperature gradient was applied along the last array by liquid nitrogen cooling; the others were kept at room temperature (21°C). Trace amounts of water caused formation of a thin ice layer at temperatures below −80°C (light blue). The temperature profile along the detection setup is shown by the blue dashed line. For clarity, only 16 detectors are shown per COMPACT detector array.

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2

Decay chains originating from 288,289Fl registered in TASCA experiments. Chains 1 and 2 were reported in (Yakushev et al., 2014), chains 3 to 8 were observed in this work. Chain 3, marked with a star, was observed during the run with the SiO2-covered COMPACT array. Yellow squares correspond to α-decay, the green squares to SF decay. Measured energies of α particles and fission fragments are given in megaelectronvolts (MeV). SF energies are given without correction for pulse height defect. Black triangles denote decays registered during beam-off periods.

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3

The simulated distributions of 288,289Fl in two Au-covered COMPACT detector arrays. The Fl deposition yields (in %) per individual pair of PIN diodes are shown as solid lines, simulated based on the original MC model for a given adsorption energy value. The positions of the observed Fl events are shown with black arrows. The temperature profile along the COMPACT detector arrays is shown as the dashed line.

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4

XPS spectrum of the Au-covered detector surface. The spectrum obtained without surface cleaning (blue) and the spectrum after 10-min cleaning by Ar-ion sputtering (black) are shown.

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5

Left panel: XRD Θ/2Θ-scan of an Au film. The measured Θ/2Θ-scan of a thin Au film on top of a silicon detector (black line) and the simulated XRD intensity distribution for a polycrystalline Au film (red lines) are shown. One line corresponding to the Au (111) plane is expanded and shown in the inset. Right panel: Representative tapping mode AFM images of the gold surface on the detector show the phase contrast (A,C) and the topography (B,D) of the surface.

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 6

A simplified scheme of the adsorption mechanisms on an inhomogeneous surface, which includes the migration (diffusion) step from the physisorbed/precursor state (1) to a stronger-binding site (2), cf. Figure 4 in (Li et al., 2008).

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