Actinide nitrides are ideal materials for advanced nuclear fuels due to their high fissile metal densities, thermal stabilities, and high thermal conductivities. The major impediment to the use of actinide nitride fuels is the synthesis of bulk high purity material. Conventional methods are time-consuming and often lead to nitride products that contain carbon and oxygen impurities which degrade the thermal properties of the resulting fuel materials. Our team is investigating a new approach to the synthesis of high purity f-element nitrides through the synthesis of f-element complexes with nitrogen-rich ligands. We have demonstrated that these types of complexes undergo a self-sustained combustion reaction to yield f-element nitrides. The presentation will describe new complexes and their combustion reactions.

Synthesis and combustion of nitrogen-rich f-element complexes

249th National Meeting (2015)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.