β-MoO 3 Whiskers in 99 Mo/ 99m Tc Radioisotope Production and 99 Mo/ 99m Tc Extraction Using Hot Atoms

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry Vol. 62; no. 32; pp. 13140 - 13147
• Main Authors: Ngo, Minh Chu, Fujita, Yoshitaka, Suzuki, Tatsuya, Dung Do, Thi Mai, Seki, Misaki, Nakayama, Tadachika, Niihara, Koichi, Suematsu, Hisayuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 14-08-2023
• ISSN: 0020-1669; 1520-510X
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c02125

β-MoO
whiskers prepared by a thermal evaporation method and α-MoO
particles were irradiated in a nuclear reactor to produce
Mo/
Tc radioisotopes via neutron capture. The irradiated targets were then dispersed in water to extract the
Mo/
Tc isotopes. Of the
Mo formed in the β-MoO
whiskers, 64.0 ± 7.4% was extracted with water; by contrast, only 8.8 ± 2.6% of the
Mo formed in α-MoO
was extracted. By comparing these data to the
Mo concentration dissolved in water, we confirmed the hot-atom effect on both β-MoO
whisker and α-MoO
particle targets to transfer
Mo isotopes from irradiated samples to water. In addition, the β-MoO
whiskers exhibited a prominent hot-atom effect to transfer a higher ratio of
Mo isotopes into water. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first demonstration of β-MoO
being used as an irradiation target in the neutron capture method. On the basis of the results, β-MoO
is considered a promising irradiation target for producing
Mo/
Tc by neutron capture and using water for the radioisotope extraction process in the future.