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Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect

Low-energy nuclear reactions are known to be extremely dependent on the local crystal structure and crystal defects of the deuterated samples. This has a strong influence on both hydrogen diffusion and the effective electron mass. The latter determines the strength of the local electron-screening ef...

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Autores principales: Kowalska, Agata, Czerski, Konrad, Horodek, Paweł, Siemek, Krzysztof, Kaczmarski, Mateusz, Targosz-Ślęczka, Natalia, Valat, Mathieu, Dubey, Rakesh, Pyszniak, Krzysztof, Turek, Marcin, Droździel, Andrzej, Słowik, Justyna, Baranowska, Jolanta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10533180/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37763533
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16186255
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author Kowalska, Agata
Czerski, Konrad
Horodek, Paweł
Siemek, Krzysztof
Kaczmarski, Mateusz
Targosz-Ślęczka, Natalia
Valat, Mathieu
Dubey, Rakesh
Pyszniak, Krzysztof
Turek, Marcin
Droździel, Andrzej
Słowik, Justyna
Baranowska, Jolanta
author_facet Kowalska, Agata
Czerski, Konrad
Horodek, Paweł
Siemek, Krzysztof
Kaczmarski, Mateusz
Targosz-Ślęczka, Natalia
Valat, Mathieu
Dubey, Rakesh
Pyszniak, Krzysztof
Turek, Marcin
Droździel, Andrzej
Słowik, Justyna
Baranowska, Jolanta
author_sort Kowalska, Agata
collection PubMed
description Low-energy nuclear reactions are known to be extremely dependent on the local crystal structure and crystal defects of the deuterated samples. This has a strong influence on both hydrogen diffusion and the effective electron mass. The latter determines the strength of the local electron-screening effect and can change the deuteron–deuteron reaction rates at very low energies by many orders of magnitude. In the present study, zirconium samples were exposed to various conditions and energies of deuteron beams using the unique accelerator system with ultra-high vacuum, installed in the eLBRUS laboratory at the University of Szczecin. Irradiated and virgin samples were investigated by means of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). While the first method delivers information about changes of crystal lattice parameters and possible production of hydrides accompanying the formation of dislocations that are produced during irradiation of the samples, the second one can determine the depth distribution of crystal defects, being especially sensitive to vacancies. The studied Zr samples were also implanted by carbon and oxygen ions in order to simulate the real situation taking place in nuclear reaction experiments and to investigate their influence on the kinetic of produced vacancies. The observed enhancement of the electron-screening effect in the deuteron fusion reaction at very low energies could be explained by formation of a high number of vacancies during the deuteron irradiation of samples. Possible carbon and oxygen impurities can affect this process in various ways by changing the depth distribution of vacancies and their diffusion, but they play only a minor role in the strength of the electron-screening effect.
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spelling pubmed-105331802023-09-28 Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect Kowalska, Agata Czerski, Konrad Horodek, Paweł Siemek, Krzysztof Kaczmarski, Mateusz Targosz-Ślęczka, Natalia Valat, Mathieu Dubey, Rakesh Pyszniak, Krzysztof Turek, Marcin Droździel, Andrzej Słowik, Justyna Baranowska, Jolanta Materials (Basel) Article Low-energy nuclear reactions are known to be extremely dependent on the local crystal structure and crystal defects of the deuterated samples. This has a strong influence on both hydrogen diffusion and the effective electron mass. The latter determines the strength of the local electron-screening effect and can change the deuteron–deuteron reaction rates at very low energies by many orders of magnitude. In the present study, zirconium samples were exposed to various conditions and energies of deuteron beams using the unique accelerator system with ultra-high vacuum, installed in the eLBRUS laboratory at the University of Szczecin. Irradiated and virgin samples were investigated by means of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). While the first method delivers information about changes of crystal lattice parameters and possible production of hydrides accompanying the formation of dislocations that are produced during irradiation of the samples, the second one can determine the depth distribution of crystal defects, being especially sensitive to vacancies. The studied Zr samples were also implanted by carbon and oxygen ions in order to simulate the real situation taking place in nuclear reaction experiments and to investigate their influence on the kinetic of produced vacancies. The observed enhancement of the electron-screening effect in the deuteron fusion reaction at very low energies could be explained by formation of a high number of vacancies during the deuteron irradiation of samples. Possible carbon and oxygen impurities can affect this process in various ways by changing the depth distribution of vacancies and their diffusion, but they play only a minor role in the strength of the electron-screening effect. MDPI 2023-09-18 /pmc/articles/PMC10533180/ /pubmed/37763533 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16186255 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kowalska, Agata
Czerski, Konrad
Horodek, Paweł
Siemek, Krzysztof
Kaczmarski, Mateusz
Targosz-Ślęczka, Natalia
Valat, Mathieu
Dubey, Rakesh
Pyszniak, Krzysztof
Turek, Marcin
Droździel, Andrzej
Słowik, Justyna
Baranowska, Jolanta
Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title_full Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title_fullStr Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title_full_unstemmed Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title_short Crystal Lattice Defects in Deuterated Zr in Presence of O and C Impurities Studied by PAS and XRD for Electron Screening Effect
title_sort crystal lattice defects in deuterated zr in presence of o and c impurities studied by pas and xrd for electron screening effect
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10533180/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37763533
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16186255
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