2026-10-14T23:25:30Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.j00186.00660 2025-03-17T16:20:09Z

2025-03-17 Recovery and contents of thorium, uranium and potassium in lithium carbonate doi:10.57760/sciencedb.j00186.00660 en Li2CO3, a raw material of Li2MoO4 crystal used for searching the neutrino-less double beta decay (0νββ), must be of high purity and low content of Th, U and K. In this study, quantitative methods were developed to determinate the content of Th, U and K in ultrapure Li2CO3 samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The research showed the signals of Th, U and K were significantly inhibited with the increasing of lithium concentration. When the lithium concentration reached 8000 ug g-1, the recovery of Th, U and K decreased to 10 ~ 30 %. For the determination of Th and U, both the recovery correction method and the TEVA - UTEVA combined resin method can eliminate the influence of the lithium matrix. The recovery correction method was simpler to operate, while the TEVA - UTEVA combined resin method was lower in detection limit. For measurement of K, the plasma gas (Ar) in the ICP - MS also induced significant interference. Compared with the standard measurement mode of ICP - MS, the cold flame mode with reduced radio frequency (RF) power can effectively reduce the interference from Ar, greatly improving the detection sensitivity of K. Meanwhile, the detection limit of K in Li2CO3 samples can be as low as 7.53 ng g-1, correcting the inhibitory effect of the lithium matrix by the recovery correction method. A neutron activation analysis (NAA) measurement was also performed for the comparison, yielding results consistent with ICP-MS. Th U and K; Li2CO3; Li2MoO4 crystal detector; Quantitative method; Neutrino-less double beta decay Xiaoxing Tang Liang Chen Xiguang Cao Liuqing Shi Aoqi Xu Yulan Li Yuan Qian Hui Yuan RESTRICTED dataset Science Data Bank