Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Mar 2024)

Grazing-incidence synchrotron radiation diffraction studies on irradiated Ce-doped and pristine Y-stabilized ZrO2 at the Rossendorf beamline

  • Volodymyr Svitlyk,
  • Luiza Braga Ferreira dos Santos,
  • Jonas Niessen,
  • Sara Gilson,
  • Julien Marquardt,
  • Stefan Findeisen,
  • Selina Richter,
  • Shavkat Akhmadaliev,
  • Nina Huittinen,
  • Christoph Hennig

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577524000304
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 31, no. 2
pp. 355 – 362

Abstract

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In this work, Ce-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and pure YSZ phases were subjected to irradiation with 14 MeV Au ions. Irradiation studies were performed to simulate long-term structural and microstructural damage due to self-irradiation in YSZ phases hosting alpha-active radioactive species. It was found that both the Ce-doped YSZ and the YSZ phases had a reasonable tolerance to irradiation at high ion fluences and the bulk crystallinity was well preserved. Nevertheless, local microstrain increased in all compounds under study after irradiation, with the Ce-doped phases being less affected than pure YSZ. Doping with cerium ions increased the microstructural stability of YSZ phases through a possible reduction in the mobility of oxygen atoms, which limits the formation of structural defects. Doping of YSZ with tetravalent actinide elements is expected to have a similar effect. Thus, YSZ phases are promising for the safe long-term storage of radioactive elements. Using synchrotron radiation diffraction, measurements of the thin irradiated layers of the Ce-YSZ and YSZ samples were performed in grazing incidence (GI) mode. A corresponding module for measurements in GI mode was developed at the Rossendorf Beamline and relevant technical details for sample alignment and data collection are also presented.

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