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Llopart-Babot I, Vasile M, Dobney A, Russell B, Kolmogorova S, Boden S, Bruggeman M, Leermakers M, Qiao J, De Souza V, Tarancón A, Bagán H, Warwick P. A comparison of different approaches for the analysis of 36Cl in graphite samples. Appl Radiat Isot 2023; 202:111046. [PMID: 37778141 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.111046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
This study compares different approaches for the quantification of the massic activity of 36Cl in graphite samples. All approaches consisted of a combustion step in combination with a trapping solution to collect the volatile elements. Two different resins were used to separate 36Cl from the matrix (CL resin and PS resin). Liquid scintillation counting (LSC), scintillation counting (SC) and tandem inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) were used to quantify 36Cl activity. The chemical yield in all approaches was determined by means of ion chromatography (IC). In addition, the methods were applied to a real activated graphite sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Llopart-Babot
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium; VUB, AMGC, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - M Vasile
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - A Dobney
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - B Russell
- Nuclear Metrology Group, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 OLW, UK
| | - S Kolmogorova
- Nuclear Metrology Group, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 OLW, UK
| | - S Boden
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | | | | | - J Qiao
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - V De Souza
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - A Tarancón
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - P Warwick
- University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
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2
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Giménez I, Rotger J, Apellániz E, Bagán H, Tent J, Rigol A, Tarancón A. A new method based on selective fluorescent polymers (PSresin) for the analysis of 90Sr in presence of 210Pb in environmental samples. Appl Radiat Isot 2023; 199:110879. [PMID: 37267774 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
90Sr is of major concern in emergency and environmental control plans. It is one of the main fission products in nuclear facilities and is a high-energy beta emitter that presents chemical properties similar to those of calcium. 90Sr is commonly detected using methods based on liquid scintillation counting (LSC) following a chemical separation to remove potential interferences. However, these methods generate mixed wastes (hazardous and radioactive). In recent years, an alternative strategy using PSresins has been developed. For 90Sr analysis with PSresins, 210Pb is the main interferent that should be considered, as it is also strongly retained in the PSresin. In this study, a procedure was developed involving a precipitation with iodates to separate lead from strontium before the PSresin separation. Moreover, the method developed was compared with well-established and routinely used methods based on LSC, revealing that the new method produced equivalent results in less time and with less waste generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Giménez
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - J Rotger
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - E Apellániz
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - J Tent
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Rigol
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Serra-Húnter Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
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Giménez I, Bagán H, Tarancón A. Fast analysis of gross alpha with a new plastic scintillation resin. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1248:340905. [PMID: 36813463 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Radionuclides analysis is a complex task, with high time and economic costs. In decommissioning activities and environmental monitoring, it is very evident, in which, to obtain an appropriate information, it is necessary to perform as many analyses as possible. The number of these analyses can be reduced using screening gross alpha or gross beta parameters. However, the currently used methods cannot give an answer as fast as it would be desired and, moreover, more than 50% of the results reported in the interlaboratory exercises fall outside the acceptance range. This work presents the development of a new material and method to gross alpha activity determination using a plastic scintillation resin (PSresin) in drinking and river water samples. A specific procedure was developed involving a new PSresin (using bis-(3-trimethylsilyl-1-propyl)-methanediphosphonic acid as an extractant) that is selective for all actinides, radium and polonium. Quantitative retention and 100% detection efficiencies were obtained at pH 2 with nitric acid. PSA value of 135 was used for α/β discrimination. Eu was used to determine or estimate retention in sample analyses. The method developed can measure, in less than 5 h from the reception of the sample, the gross alpha parameter with quantification errors comparable or even lower to those obtained with conventional methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Giménez
- Department d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analíitca, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES-08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Department d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analíitca, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES-08028, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - A Tarancón
- Department d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analíitca, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES-08028, Barcelona, Spain; Serra-Húnter Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre, 6, ES-08001, Barcelona, Spain
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4
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Llopart-Babot I, Vasile M, Tarancón A, Bagán H, Dobney A, Boden S, Bruggeman M, Leermakers M, Qiao J, Warwick P. Investigation of a new approach for 36Cl determination in solid samples using plastic scintillators. Appl Radiat Isot 2023; 193:110646. [PMID: 36603458 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
This work reports a new approach for the determination of 36Cl in radioactive waste samples from nuclear decommissioning, wherein novel plastic scintillator (PS) materials were used for the concentration of 36Cl prior to the detection with scintillation counting. Different plastic scintillator (PS) materials were tested for their selective absorption and detection of 36Cl activity in solid samples. PS microspheres (PSm), cross-linked PSm (CPSm) and PS resin have been investigated. PS resin was identified as the most suitable material for 36Cl analysis. Pyrolysis and subsequent trapping of the volatile elements in a bubbler was used. The trapping solution was finally loaded onto a cartridge of the PS resin. Scintillation counting and ion chromatography were used to determine the activity concentration and the chemical recovery, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Llopart-Babot
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium; VUB, AMGC, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - M Vasile
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - A Tarancón
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Departament d'Enginyeria Química i Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Dobney
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - S Boden
- SCK CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | | | | | - J Qiao
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - P Warwick
- University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
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Martínez J, de Los Cobos M, Peñalver A, Tarancón A, Giménez I, Bagán H, Aguilar C, Borrull F. Simultaneous determination of 210Pb and 90Sr and 210Po isolation in sludge samples using a plastic scintillation resin. Appl Radiat Isot 2023; 192:110601. [PMID: 36481494 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
This study describes a new and fast method for separating 210Po from 210Pb and 90Sr, before simultaneously measuring the individual activities of the latter two radionuclides using a plastic scintillation resin (PSresin) in sludge samples taken from a drinking water treatment plant. This method speeds up the analysis process significantly by simultaneously measuring 210Pb and 90Sr in a single step. The method is reproducible and has a relative standard deviation of less than 25% for 210Pb, 210Po and 90Sr. The method was satisfactorily validated with an intercomparison sample and applied to sludge samples from a drinking water treatment plant. The minimum detectable activities for 0.9 g of sludge are 5.5 Bq/kg and 8 Bq/kg for 210Pb and 90Sr respectively when measured for 180 min, and 0.5 Bq/kg for 210Po when measured for 5000 min.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Martínez
- Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitaria, Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra. Nacional 340, Km. 1094, 43895, L'Ampolla, Tarragona, Spain
| | - M de Los Cobos
- Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitaria, Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra. Nacional 340, Km. 1094, 43895, L'Ampolla, Tarragona, Spain
| | - A Peñalver
- Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitaria, Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra. Nacional 340, Km. 1094, 43895, L'Ampolla, Tarragona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Serra Hunter Professor, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - I Giménez
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - C Aguilar
- Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitaria, Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra. Nacional 340, Km. 1094, 43895, L'Ampolla, Tarragona, Spain; Serra Hunter Professor, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - F Borrull
- Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitaria, Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra. Nacional 340, Km. 1094, 43895, L'Ampolla, Tarragona, Spain
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Tarancón A, Novella O, Pujadas M, Batlle M, Cros J, García J. Development of an equipment for real-time continuous monitoring of alpha and beta radioactivity in river water. Appl Radiat Isot 2022; 187:110322. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Torres A, Giménez I, Bagán H, Tarancón A. Analysis of isotopes of plutonium in water samples with a PSresin based on aliquat·336. Appl Radiat Isot 2022; 187:110333. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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8
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Blanco-Portals J, Torruella P, Baiutti F, Anelli S, Torrell M, Tarancón A, Peiró F, Estradé S. WhatEELS. A python-based interactive software solution for ELNES analysis combining clustering and NLLS. Ultramicroscopy 2021; 232:113403. [PMID: 34638092 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2021.113403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The analysis of energy loss near edge structures in EELS is a powerful method for a precise characterization of elemental oxidation states and local atomic coordination with an outstanding lateral resolution, down to the atomic scale. Given the complexity and sizes of the EELS spectrum images datasets acquired by the state-of-the-art instrumentation, methods with low convergence times are usually preferred for spectral unmixing in quantitative analysis, such as multiple linear least squares fittings. Nevertheless, non-linear least squares fitting may be a superior choice for analysis in some cases, as it eliminates the need of calibrated reference spectra and provides information for each of the individual components included in the fitted model. To avoid some of the problems that the non-linear least squares algorithms may suffer dealing with mixed-composition samples and, thus, a model comprised by a large number of individual curves we proposed the combination of clustering analysis for segmentation and non-linear least squares fitting for spectral analysis. Clustering analysis is capable of a fast classification of pixels in smaller subsets divided by their spectral characteristics, and thus increases the control over the model parameters in separated regions of the samples, classified by their specific compositions. Furthermore, along with this manuscript we provide access to a self-contained and expandable modular software solution called WhatEELS. It was specifically designed to facilitate the combined use of clustering and NLLS, and includes a set of tools for white-lines analysis and elemental quantification. We successfully demonstrated its capabilities with a control sample of mesoporous cerium oxide doped with praseodymium and gadolinium, which posed challenging case-study given its spectral characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Blanco-Portals
- LENS-MIND, Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - P Torruella
- LENS-MIND, Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - F Baiutti
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de Les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona, Spain
| | - S Anelli
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de Les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona, Spain
| | - M Torrell
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de Les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de Les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona, Spain; ICREA, 23 Passeig Lluís Companys, Barcelona 08010, Spain
| | - F Peiró
- LENS-MIND, Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - S Estradé
- LENS-MIND, Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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Giménez I, Bagán H, Tarancón A, García JF. PSresin for the analysis of alpha-emitting radionuclides: Comparison of diphosphonic acid-based extractants. Appl Radiat Isot 2021; 178:109969. [PMID: 34626898 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Revised: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The analysis of radionuclides is complex, with high economic and time costs. For this reason, there is a need to develop new methods and strategies to reduce these costs. One important group in the analysis of radionuclides is the actinides, which are the main constituents assessed in the total gross alpha together with radium and radon test used to measure radioactivity in drinking water. Moreover, in nuclear dismantling processes, the possible spread of the released radionuclides has to be controlled, which is measured by many techniques, depending on the radionuclides, through scintillation. This work presents a new method to analyse actinides using plastic scintillation resins (PSresins) packed in a solid-phase extraction cartridge. The proposed method combines chemical separation and sample measurement into a single step, reducing the effort, time and reagents required for analysis as well as decreasing the amount of waste generated. The PSresins compared in this study contained three selective extractants based on methylenediphosphonic acid with different radicals, which has a high affinity for tri-, tetra-, and hexavalent actinides in dilute acids. These extractants were immobilised on plastic scintillation microspheres at a ratio of 1/1:6, producing a retention and detection efficiency of 100% for 241Am, 230Th, Uranium and 238Pu. The retention and detection efficiency were 20% and 100%, respectively, for 210Po and low for 226Ra.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Giménez
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Serra-Húnter Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua, University of Barcelona, Spain.
| | - J F García
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Marti i Franqués, 1-11, ES, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua, University of Barcelona, Spain
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11
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Pelacho M, Ruiz G, Sanz F, Tarancón A, Clemente-Gallardo J. Analysis of the evolution and collaboration networks of citizen science scientific publications. Scientometrics 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03724-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe term citizen science refers to a broad set of practices developed in a growing number of areas of knowledge and characterized by the active citizen participation in some or several stages of the research process. Definitions, classifications and terminology remain open, reflecting that citizen science is an evolving phenomenon, a spectrum of practices whose classification may be useful but never unique or definitive. The aim of this article is to study citizen science publications in journals indexed by WoS, in particular how they have evolved in the last 20 years and the collaboration networks which have been created among the researchers in that time. In principle, the evolution can be analyzed, in a quantitative way, by the usual tools, such as the number of publications, authors, and impact factor of the papers, as well as the set of different research areas including citizen science as an object of study. But as citizen science is a transversal concept which appears in almost all scientific disciplines, this study becomes a multifaceted problem which is only partially modelled with the usual bibliometric magnitudes. It is necessary to consider new tools to parametrize a set of complementary properties. Thus, we address the study of the citizen science expansion and evolution in terms of the properties of the graphs which encode relations between scientists by studying co-authorship and the consequent networks of collaboration. This approach - not used until now in research on citizen science, as far as we know- allows us to analyze the properties of these networks through graph theory, and complement the existing quantitative research. The results obtained lead mainly to: (a) a better understanding of the current state of citizen science in the international academic system-by countries, by areas of knowledge, by interdisciplinary communities-as an increasingly legitimate expanding methodology, and (b) a greater knowledge of collaborative networks and their evolution, within and between research communities, which allows a certain margin of predictability as well as the definition of better cooperation strategies.
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Bauzá F, Ruiz-Manzanares G, Pérez-Sienes L, Tarancón A, Íñiguez D, Gómez-Gardeñes J. Analyzing the potential impact of BREXIT on the European research collaboration network. Chaos 2020; 30:063145. [PMID: 32611122 DOI: 10.1063/1.5139019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In this work, we study the impact that the withdrawal of institutions from the United Kingdom caused by BREXIT has on the European research collaboration networks. To this aim, we consider BREXIT as a targeted attack to those graphs composed by the European institutions that have collaborated in research projects belonging to the three main H2020 programs (Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership, and Societal Challenges). The consequences of this attack are analyzed at the global, mesoscopic, and local scales and compared with the changes suffered by the same collaboration networks when a similar quantity of nodes is randomly removed from the network. Our results suggest that changes depend on the specific program, with Excellent Science being the most affected by BREXIT perturbation. However, the structure of the integrated collaboration network is not significantly affected by BREXIT compared to the variations observed after the random removal of institutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Bauzá
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - G Ruiz-Manzanares
- Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - L Pérez-Sienes
- Grupo de Sistemas Complejos, E.T.S. Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - D Íñiguez
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - J Gómez-Gardeñes
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
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Coma A, Tarancón A, Bagán H, García JF. Automated separation of 99Tc using plastic scintillation resin PSresin and openview automated modular separation system (OPENVIEW-AMSS). J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-019-06659-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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Clemente-Gallardo J, Ferrer A, Íñiguez D, Rivero A, Ruiz G, Tarancón A. Do researchers collaborate in a similar way to publish and to develop projects? J Informetr 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2018.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Castejón F, Reynolds JM, Fontdecaba JM, Balbín R, Guasp J, López-Bruna D, Campos I, Fernández LA, Fernández-Fraile D, Martín-Mayor V, Tarancón A. Ion Orbits and Ion Confinement Studies on ECRH Plasmas in TJ-II Stellarator. Fusion Science and Technology 2017. [DOI: 10.13182/fst06-a1263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- F. Castejón
- Laboratorio Nacional de Fusió–Asociación Euratom/Ciemat, 28040-Madrid, Spain
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
| | - J. M. Reynolds
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
- Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Fïsica Teórica. 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
| | - J. M. Fontdecaba
- Laboratorio Nacional de Fusió–Asociación Euratom/Ciemat, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - R. Balbín
- Laboratorio Nacional de Fusió–Asociación Euratom/Ciemat, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - J. Guasp
- Laboratorio Nacional de Fusió–Asociación Euratom/Ciemat, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - D. López-Bruna
- Laboratorio Nacional de Fusió–Asociación Euratom/Ciemat, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - I. Campos
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
| | - L. A. Fernández
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Fïsica Teórica I, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - D. Fernández-Fraile
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Fïsica Teórica I, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - V. Martín-Mayor
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Fïsica Teórica I, 28040-Madrid, Spain
| | - A. Tarancón
- BIFI: Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
- Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Fïsica Teórica. 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
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16
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Lluch E, Barrera J, Tarancón A, Bagán H, García J. Analysis of 210Pb in water samples with plastic scintillation resins. Anal Chim Acta 2016; 940:38-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2016.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2016] [Revised: 07/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/04/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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17
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Barrera J, Tarancón A, Bagán H, García JF. A new plastic scintillation resin for single-step separation, concentration and measurement of technetium-99. Anal Chim Acta 2016; 936:259-66. [PMID: 27566363 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2016.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2016] [Revised: 07/06/2016] [Accepted: 07/09/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Technetium is a synthetic element with no stable isotopes, produced as waste in nuclear power plants and in cyclotrons used for nuclear medicine. The element has high mobility, in the form of TcO4(-); its determination is therefore important for environmental protection. Technetium is found in low concentrations and therefore common methods for its analysis include long treatments in several steps and require large amounts of reagents for its purification and preconcentration. Plastic scintillation resins (PSresin) are novel materials used to separate, preconcentrate and measure radionuclides in a single step. The objective of this study is to prepare and characterise a PSresin for the preconcentration and measurement of (99)Tc. The study first evaluates the reproducibility of the production of PSresins between batches and over time; showing good reproducibility and storage stability. Next, we studied the effect of some common non-radioactive interferences, showing small influences on measurement, and radioactive interferences ((36)Cl and (238)U/(234)U). (36)Cl can be removed by a simple treatment with 0.5 M HCl and (238)U/(234)U can be removed from the column by cleaning with a mixture of 0.1 M HNO3 and 0.1 M HF. In the latter case, a slight change in the morphology of the PSresin caused an increase in detection efficiency. Finally, the PSresin was applied to the measurement of real spiked samples (sea water and urine) with deviations lower than 10% in all cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Barrera
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - H Bagán
- Department of Pure and Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Getingevägen 60, hus II, 22100 SE, Lund, Sweden
| | - J F García
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain
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18
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Pla D, Salleras M, Morata A, Garbayo I, Gerbolés M, Sabaté N, Divins NJ, Casanovas A, Llorca J, Tarancón A. Standalone ethanol micro-reformer integrated on silicon technology for onboard production of hydrogen-rich gas. Lab Chip 2016; 16:2900-2910. [PMID: 27378399 DOI: 10.1039/c6lc00583g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
A novel design of a silicon-based micro-reformer for onboard hydrogen generation from ethanol is presented in this work. The micro-reactor is fully fabricated with mainstream MEMS technology and consists of an active low-thermal-mass structure suspended by an insulating membrane. The suspended structure includes an embedded resistive metal heater and an array of ca. 20k vertically aligned through-silicon micro-channels per square centimetre. Each micro-channel is 500 μm in length and 50 μm in diameter allowing a unique micro-reformer configuration that presents a total surface per projected area of 16 cm(2) cm(-2) and per volume of 320 cm(2) cm(-3). The walls of the micro-channels become the active surface of the micro-reformer when coated with a homogenous thin film of Rh-Pd/CeO2 catalyst. The steam reforming of ethanol under controlled temperature conditions (using the embedded heater) and using the micro-reformer as a standalone device are evaluated. Fuel conversion rates above 94% and hydrogen selectivity values of ca. 70% were obtained when using operation conditions suitable for application in micro-solid oxide fuel cells (micro-SOFCs), i.e. 750 °C and fuel flows of 0.02 mlL min(-1) (enough to feed a one watt power source).
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Affiliation(s)
- D Pla
- Department of Advanced Materials for Energy, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Jardí de les Dones de Negre 1, 2nd floor, 08930 Sant Adrià del Besós, Barcelona, Spain.
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19
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Santiago L, Tarancón A, García J. Influence of preparation parameters on the synthesis of plastic scintillation microspheres and evaluation of sample preparation. ADV POWDER TECHNOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apt.2016.04.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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20
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Tarancón A, Novella O, Batlle M, Pujadas M, Cros J, García JF. Robustness of plastic scintillation microspheres in the continuous measurement of different river waters. Appl Radiat Isot 2016; 114:145-53. [PMID: 27235888 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.05.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2015] [Revised: 04/22/2016] [Accepted: 05/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Plastic scintillation microspheres (PSm) represent one of the most promising options for monitoring alpha and beta radioactivity in river water. For that reason, a study of the stability of PSm packed into a cell against the continuous flow of river water with different degrees of turbidity was performed over a period of 100h. The results showed that the volume of the cell became stable after 15h of pumping and continued to be stable throughout the 100h of the experiment. During this period of time, the detection efficiency of the PSm, in terms of efficiency*volume, presented mean values of 0.75(3)% for (3)H and 272(11)% for (90)Sr/(90)Y. No dependence on flow time or river water type was observed. The background was also constant for 100h and for the different water types, although (222)Rn should be removed from the water beforehand to prevent its accumulation in the PSm. Since PSm did not present any degradation throughout the whole experiment, PSm can undoubtedly be used for monitoring radioactivity with low reagent consumption, low waste generation and low maintenance costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tarancón
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - O Novella
- Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
| | - M Batlle
- Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
| | - M Pujadas
- Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
| | - J Cros
- Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
| | - J F García
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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21
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Torrell M, Almar L, Morata A, Tarancón A. Synthesis of mesoporous nanocomposites for their application in solid oxide electrolysers cells: microstructural and electrochemical characterization. Faraday Discuss 2016. [PMID: 26212761 DOI: 10.1039/c5fd00035a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Fabrication routes for new SOEC mesoporous nanocomposite materials as electrodes are presented in this paper. NiO-CGO and SDC-SSC are described as possible new materials and their synthesis and the cell fabrication are discussed. The obtained materials are microstructurally characterised by SEM, TEM and XRD, where the mesoporous structures are observed and analysed. The obtained samples are electrochemically analysed by I-V polarisation curves and EIS analysis, showing a maximum current density of 330 mA cm(-2) at 1.7 V. A degradation of the cell performance is evidenced after a potentiostatic test at 1.4 V after more than 40 hours. Oxygen electrode delaminating is detected, which is most probably the main cause of ageing. Even taking into account the lack of durability of the fabricated cells, the mesoporous electrodes do not seem to be altered, opening the possibility for further studies devoted to this high stability material for SOEC electrodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Torrell
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre, 1, 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - L Almar
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre, 1, 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - A Morata
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre, 1, 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - A Tarancón
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre, 1, 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain.
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22
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Santiago L, Masmoudi Y, Tarancón A, Djerafi R, Bagán H, García J, Badens E. Polystyrene based sub-micron scintillating particles produced by supercritical anti-solvent precipitation. J Supercrit Fluids 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.supflu.2015.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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23
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Gadea G, Morata A, Santos JD, Dávila D, Calaza C, Salleras M, Fonseca L, Tarancón A. Towards a full integration of vertically aligned silicon nanowires in MEMS using silane as a precursor. Nanotechnology 2015; 26:195302. [PMID: 25902702 DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/26/19/195302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Silicon nanowires present outstanding properties for electronics, energy, and environmental monitoring applications. However, their integration into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is a major issue so far due to low compatibility with mainstream technology, which complicates patterning and controlled morphology. This work addresses the growth of 〈111〉 aligned silicon nanowire arrays fully integrated into standard MEMS processing by means of the chemical vapor deposition-vapor liquid solid method (CVD-VLS) using silane as a precursor. A reinterpretation of the galvanic displacement method is presented for selectively depositing gold nanoparticles of controlled size and shape. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis of the effects of synthesis temperature and pressure on the growth rate and alignment of nanowires is presented for the most common silicon precursor, i.e., silane. Compared with previously reported protocols, the redefined galvanic displacement together with a silane-based CVD-VLS growth methodology provides a more standard and low-temperature (<650 °C) synthesis scheme and a compatible route to reliably grow Si nanowires in MEMS for advanced applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Gadea
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre 1, 08930 Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain
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24
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Tarancón A, Barrera J, Santiago L, Bagán H, García J. Application of the CIEMAT–NIST method to plastic scintillation microspheres. Appl Radiat Isot 2015; 98:13-22. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2014.12.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2014] [Revised: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 12/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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25
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Torrell M, García-Rodríguez S, Morata A, Penelas G, Tarancón A. Co-electrolysis of steam and CO2 in full-ceramic symmetrical SOECs: a strategy for avoiding the use of hydrogen as a safe gas. Faraday Discuss 2015. [DOI: 10.1039/c5fd00018a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The use of cermets as fuel electrodes for solid oxide electrolysis cells requires permanent circulation of reducing gas, e.g. H2 or CO, so called safe gas, in order to avoid oxidation of the metallic phase. Replacing metallic based electrodes by pure oxides is therefore proposed as an advantage for the industrial application of solid oxide electrolyzers. In this work, full-ceramic symmetrical solid oxide electrolysis cells have been investigated for steam/CO2 co-electrolysis. Electrolyte supported cells with La0.75Sr0.25Cr0.5Mn0.5O3−δ reversible electrodes have been fabricated and tested in co-electrolysis mode using different fuel compositions, from pure H2O to pure CO2, at temperatures between 850–900 °C. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic measurements have been carried out for the mechanistic understanding of the symmetrical cell performance. The content of H2 and CO in the product gas has been measured by in-line gas micro-chromatography. The effect of employing H2 as a safe gas has also been investigated. Maximum density currents of 750 mA cm−2 and 620 mA cm−2 have been applied at 1.7 V for pure H2O and for H2O : CO2 ratios of 1 : 1, respectively. Remarkable results were obtained for hydrogen-free fuel compositions, which confirmed the interest of using ceramic oxides as a fuel electrode candidate to reduce or completely avoid the use of safe gas in operation minimizing the contribution of the reverse water shift reaction (RWSR) in the process. H2 : CO ratios close to two were obtained for hydrogen-free tests fulfilling the basic requirements for synthetic fuel production. An important increase in the operation voltage was detected under continuous operation leading to a dramatic failure by delaminating of the oxygen electrode.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Torrell
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC)
- 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs
- Spain
| | | | - A. Morata
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC)
- 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs
- Spain
| | - G. Penelas
- REPSOL Technology Center
- 28935 Móstoles
- Spain
| | - A. Tarancón
- Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC)
- 08930-Sant Adrià de Besòs
- Spain
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26
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Calaza C, Salleras M, Dávila D, Tarancón A, Morata A, Santos J, Gadea G, Fonseca L. Bottom-up Silicon Nanowire Arrays for Thermoelectric Harvesting. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2015.05.085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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27
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Santiago LM, Bagán H, Tarancón A, Garcia JF. Synthesis of plastic scintillation microspheres: alpha/beta discrimination. Appl Radiat Isot 2014; 93:18-28. [PMID: 24837324 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2014.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2013] [Revised: 02/17/2014] [Accepted: 04/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Plastic scintillation microspheres (PSm) have been developed as an alternative for liquid scintillation cocktails due to their ability to avoid the mixed waste, besides other strengths in which the possibility for alpha/beta discrimination is included. The aim of this work was to evaluate the capability of PSm containing two combinations of fluorescence solutes (PPO/POPOP and pT/Bis-MSB) and variable amounts of a second organic solvent (naphthalene) to enhance the alpha/beta discrimination. Two commercial detectors with different Pulse Shape Discrimination performances (Quantulus and Triathler) were used to evaluate the alpha/beta discrimination. An optimal discrimination of alpha/beta particles was reached, with very low misclassification values (2% for beta particles and 0.5% for alpha particles), when PSm containing PPO/POPOP and between 0.6 and 2.0 g of naphthalene were evaluated using Triathler and the appropriate programme for data processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- L M Santiago
- Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - H Bagán
- Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - A Tarancón
- Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - J F Garcia
- Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
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Bagán H, Tarancón A, Stavsetra L, Rauret G, García JF. Determination of oil reservoir radiotracer (S14CN-) in a single step using a plastic scintillator extractive resin. Anal Chim Acta 2012; 736:30-5. [PMID: 22769002 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2012.05.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2012] [Revised: 05/22/2012] [Accepted: 05/24/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The analysis of radiotracers is important in the study of oil reservoir dynamics. One of the most widely used radiotracer is S(14)CN(-). Prior to activity measurements by Liquid Scintillation (LS), routine determinations require the pretreatment steps of purification and concentration of the samples using anion exchange columns. The final elution media produces samples with high salt concentration that may lead to problems with phase separation during the LS measurement. Plastic Scintillation (PS) is an alternative technique that provides a solid surface that can be used as a platform for the immobilisation of selective extractants to obtain a PS resin. The proposed procedure unifies chemical separation and sample measurement preparation in a single step, serving to reduce the number of reagents needed and manpower required for the analysis while also avoiding mixed waste production by LS. The objective of this study is to develop a PS resin for the determination of (14)C-labelled thiocyanate radiotracer in water samples. For this purpose, the immobilisation procedure was optimised, including optimisation of the proportion of PS microspheres:extractant and the use of a control blank to monitor the PS resin immobilisation process. The breakthrough volume was studied and the detection and quantification limits for 100 mL of sample were determined to be 0.08 Bq L(-1) and 0.31 Bq L(-1), respectively. The established procedure was applied to active samples from oil reservoirs and errors lower than 5% in the sample determinations were obtained.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Bagán
- Departament de Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
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29
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Bagán H, Tarancón A, Rauret G, García J. Mixture quantification using PLS in plastic scintillation measurements. Appl Radiat Isot 2011; 69:898-903. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2011.02.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2010] [Accepted: 02/22/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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30
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Bagán H, Tarancón A, Rauret G, García J. Radiostrontium separation and measurement in a single step using plastic scintillators plus selective extractants. Application to aqueous sample analysis. Anal Chim Acta 2011; 686:50-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2010.11.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2010] [Revised: 11/19/2010] [Accepted: 11/23/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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31
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Bagán H, Tarancón A, Rauret G, García J. Alpha/beta pulse shape discrimination in plastic scintillation using commercial scintillation detectors. Anal Chim Acta 2010; 670:11-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2010.04.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2009] [Revised: 04/08/2010] [Accepted: 04/26/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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32
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Tarancón A, Bagán H, Rauret G, García JF. Comparative study of pre-treatment procedures for (3)H monitoring in water samples from environmental protection programs. Sci Total Environ 2010; 408:2233-2238. [PMID: 20167352 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2009] [Revised: 01/13/2010] [Accepted: 01/14/2010] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The determination of tritium activity in water samples is included in most environmental protection programs, and the recommended procedure consists of sample distillation and further measurement by liquid scintillation. Distillation is a simple but time consuming pre-treatment, especially in routine analysis. Here we evaluate alternative pre-treatments for tritium activity determination, such as filtration or the use of multiple selective ion exchange columns. 52 samples from different water sources (rain, surface, underground, sea and drinking water) in Spanish environmental protection programs, together with an IAEA reference material were analyzed. Results show that both pre-treatments can be applied as a preliminary tool to discriminate between tritium active and non active waters in environmental monitoring programs. In addition, filtration and multiple selective ion exchange column pre-treatments can be used as alternative procedures for tritium activity determination in the routine analyses of water samples with known and reproducible chemical and isotopic composition. Both methods are less time consuming than distillation and, in the case of filtration, extremely cheap. For waters with complex matrices, especially sea water, distillation is the recommended procedure due to the interference from salts contained in the sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tarancón
- Departament de Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
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33
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Tarancón A, García JF, Rauret G. First approach to radionuclide mixtures quantification by using plastic scintillators. Influence of the diameter of the plastic beads. Anal Chim Acta 2007; 590:232-8. [PMID: 17448349 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2007.03.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2006] [Revised: 10/20/2006] [Accepted: 03/15/2007] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have evaluated the capability of plastic scintillation (PS) as an alternative to liquid scintillation (LS) in radionuclide activity determination without mixed waste production. In order to complete the comparison, we now assess the extent to which PS can be used to quantify mixtures of radionuclides and the influence of the diameter of the plastic scintillation beads in detection efficiency. The results show that the detection efficiency decreases and the spectrum shrink to lower energies when the size of the plastic scintillation beads increases, and that the lower the energy of the beta particle, the greater the variation takes place. Similar behaviour has been observed for beta-gamma and alpha emitters. Two scenarios for the quantification of mixtures are considered, one including two radionuclides (14C and 60Co) whose spectra do not overlap significantly, and the other including two radionuclides (137Cs and 90Sr/90Y), where the spectra of one the isotopes is totally overlapped by the other The calculation has been performed by using the conventional window selection procedure and a new approach in which the selected windows correspond to those with lower quantification errors. Relative errors obtained using the proposed approach (less than 10%) are lower than those of the conventional procedure, even when a radionuclide is completely overlapped, except for those samples with extreme activity ratios that were not included in the window optimization process.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tarancón
- Departament de Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
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Mellado J, Tarancón A, García JF, Rauret G, Warwick P. Combination of chemical separation and data treatment for 55Fe, 63Ni, 99Tc, 137Cs and 90Sr/90Y activity determination in radioactive waste by liquid scintillation. Appl Radiat Isot 2005; 63:207-15. [PMID: 15963430 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2005.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2004] [Revised: 02/17/2005] [Accepted: 03/03/2005] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Routine operations involving nuclear reactors and decommissioning activities require numerous chemical analyses. Most of the procedures developed for these chemical characterisations involve several separation steps to prepare the sample for measurement. Chemical treatments are time- and manpower-consuming, labour intensive and produce significant quantities of waste. In order to address this problem, we evaluate a data treatment procedure (multivariate calibration--PLS), which we propose as a substitute to some of these separation steps. Mixtures of beta emitter radionuclides of increasing complexity ((90)Sr/(90)Y--(99)Tc, (90)Sr/(90)Y--(99)Tc--(63)Ni--(137)Cs and (90)Sr/(90)Y--(99)Tc--(63)Ni--(137)Cs--(55)Fe) have been measured by liquid scintillation (LS) counting. The influences of quenching and level of activity was evaluated and the activity of unknown samples determined. Despite the spectra overlapping and low resolution of LS, relative errors in the activities quantification of unknown samples inside the range covered by the calibration matrix are lower than 15% whatever the number of radionuclides included in the solution was.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Mellado
- Departament de Química Analítica, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Martí Franqués 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract
The use of plastic scintillation in the measurement of beta emitter activity is a suitable alternative to classical detection techniques in spite of the high cost and potential memory effects. Reuse of the plastic scintillator beads after a cleanup procedure would overcome both drawbacks. In the present paper, we tested several cleaning solutions (water, HCl 0.1M, commercial soap, EDTA 0.01 M pH=3, citric acid 0.1 M pH=3). The recommended procedure consists of the immersion of the beads in three consecutive citric acid baths for 24 h. If this protocol is followed, plastic beads contaminated with 90Sr/90Y, 14C, and 3H recover their initial condition, and can be used in successive determinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Tarancón
- Departament de Química Analítica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
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Tarancón A, Alonso E, Garcı́a J, Rauret G. Comparative study of quenching correction procedures for / determination by Cerenkov, liquid scintillation and plastic scintillation techniques. Anal Chim Acta 2002. [DOI: 10.1016/s0003-2670(02)00710-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Ballesteros HG, Carmona JM, Fernández LA, Martín-Mayor V, Muñoz Sudupe A, Tarancón A. Is the antiferromagneticRP2model in four dimensions trivial? Int J Clin Exp Med 1997. [DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.55.5067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Alonso JL, Tarancón A, Ballesteros HG, Fernández LA, Martín-Mayor V. Monte Carlo study of O(3) antiferromagnetic models in three dimensions. Phys Rev B Condens Matter 1996; 53:2537-2545. [PMID: 9983758 DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.53.2537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/12/2023]
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Campos I, Tarancón A, Clérot F, Fernández LA. Thermal and repulsive traffic flow. Phys Rev E Stat Phys Plasmas Fluids Relat Interdiscip Topics 1995; 52:5946-5954. [PMID: 9964109 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.52.5946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
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Fernández LA, Ruiz-Lorenzo JJ, Tarancón A. Proposal of a renormalization group transformation for lattice field theories. Phys Rev D Part Fields 1994; 50:5935-5943. [PMID: 10018249 DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.50.5935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
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Campos I, Tarancón A. Critical behavior of random walks. Phys Rev E Stat Phys Plasmas Fluids Relat Interdiscip Topics 1994; 50:91-96. [PMID: 9961946 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.50.91] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
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Ciria JC, Tarancón A. Renormalization group study of the soliton mass in the (1+1)-dimensional lambda Phi 4 lattice model. Phys Rev D Part Fields 1994; 49:1020-1028. [PMID: 10017061 DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.49.1020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
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Casahorrán J, Esteve JG, Tarancón A. Monte Carlo study of fermion-number fractionization on a lattice. Phys Rev Lett 1988; 61:2412-2415. [PMID: 10039111 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.61.2412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
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Bacilieri P, Remiddi E, Todesco GM, Bernaschi M, Cabasino S, Cabibbo N, Fernández LA, Marinari E, Paolucci P, Parisi G, Salina G, Tarancón A, Coppola F, Lombardo MP, Simeone E, Tripiccione R, Fiorentini G, Lai A, Marchesini PA, Marzano F, Rapuano F, Tross W. Order of the deconfining phase transition in pure-gauge QCD. Phys Rev Lett 1988; 61:1545-1548. [PMID: 10038833 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.61.1545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
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