Electrochemical deposition of nickel from aqueous electrolytic baths prepared by dissolution of metallic powder

A new method of preparation of aqueous electrolyte baths for electrochemical deposition of nickel targets for medical accelerators is presented. It starts with fast dissolution of metallic Ni powder in a HNO3-free solvent. Such obtained raw solution does not require additional treatment aimed to removal nitrates, such as the acid evaporation and Ni salt precipitation-dissolution. It is used directly for preparation of the nickel plating baths after dilution with water, setting up pH value and after possible addition of H3BO3. The pH of the baths ranges from alkaline to acidic. Deposition of 95% of ca. 50 mg of Ni dissolved in the bath takes ca. 3.5 h for the alkaline electrolyte while for the acidic solution it requires ca. 7 h. The Ni deposits obtained from the acidic bath are physically and chemically more stable and possess smoother and crack-free surfaces as compared to the coatings deposited from the alkaline bath. A method of estimation of concentration of H2O2 in the electrolytic bath is also proposed.

Electrochemical deposition of nickel targets from aqueous electrolytes for medical radioisotope production in accelerators: a review

This paper reviews reported methods of the electrochemical deposition of nickel layers which are used as target materials for accelerator production of medical radioisotopes. The review focuses on the electrodeposition carried out from aqueous electrolytes. It describes the main challenges related to the preparation of suitable Ni target layers, such as work with limited amounts of expensive isotopically enriched nickel; electrodeposition of sufficiently thick, smooth and free of cracks layers; and recovery of unreacted Ni isotopes from the irradiated targets and from used electrolytic baths.

Investigation of the thermal performance of natCu target for 63Zn production

The flow rate of coolant and the particle beam current are important when high beam current irradiations are intended for production of radionuclides. The beam current on ^natCu target to produce ⁶³Zn via the ^natCu(p,n)⁶³Zn reaction was investigated and the beam current was obtained more than 350 μA that is the maximum allowed beam current used for producing medical radioisotopes in Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute of Iran. In addition, the temperature distribution on the target under the different cooling water flow rates has been simulated based on finite element analysis program. The results show that the cooling water flow rate can be brought down to 1.5 L/min without the risk of melting of target material and boiling water.