Zirconia pyrochlore solid solutions

The hosts for ACT and REE immobilization are phases with a fluorite-derived structure (cubic zirconia-based solid solutions, pyrochlore, zirco-nolite, murataite), and zircon. The REEs and minor ACTs may be incorporated in perovskite, monazite, apatite-britholite, and titanite. Perovskite and titanite are also hosts for Sr, whereas hollandite is a host phase for Cs and corrosion products. None of these ceramics is truly a single-phase material, and other phases such as silicates (pyroxene, nepheliiie, plagioclase), oxides (spinel, hibonite/loveringite, crichtonite), or phosphates may be present and incorporate some radionuclides and process contaminants. A brief description of the most important phases suitable for immobilization of ACTs and REEs is given below. 

The cubic pyrochlore-based ceria-zirconia solid solution is a good material. However, it has been reported that the reduction temperature has become higher after the high-temperature oxidation.This is due to the transformation from pyrochlore-based-cubic to r -tetragonal phase which is more stable than it, and r ... 

Recently one of the solutions to overcome this problem has been proposed.This does concern surface modification of the pyrochlore-based oxide.s. It is known that cerium and zirconium chlorides provide vapor phase complexes with aluminum chloride at elevated temperatures.The new surface modification technique utilizes the formation of these vapor complexes to remove and modify the top surface of the pyrochlore ceria-zirconia solid solution. This method is named "chemical filing". Application of the above complexes formation has already been demonstrated for the vapor phase extraction and mutual separation of rare earths based on the so-called chemical vapor transport (CVT). ... 

Among other ion-conducting phases with fluorite-like structures, note should be taken of Y4Nl)Ox s, (Y,Nb,Zr)O2 8 solid solutions, and their derivatives (see Refs. [89-91] and references cited therein). The total conductivity of Y4NbO8.5-8 is essentially independent of the oxygen partial pressure, which may suggest a dominant ionic transport [90]. However, the conductivity level in this system is rather low, and similar to that in pyrochlore-type titanates and zirconates, although some improvements can be achieved by the addition of zirconia. 

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