ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Magnetic configuration of an epitaxial thin film of U2N3

Abstract: UN is a prominent “advanced nuclear fuel”, due to its high uranium density and good thermal conductivity. However, its dissolution in water is worse than that of UO2 and is poorly understood. A strong possibility is that there are U6+ ions present, as these are known to be highly soluble, as opposed to the normal U4+ ions that dominate UO2 and are insoluble in water. These U6+ ions could come from U2N3, which is formed at the UN interface on oxidation and contains two U sites. U2N3 orders antiferromagnetically, and experiments on a thin epitaxial film at Diamond in Jan 2019 showed AF order at ~ 73 K with q = 1. No bulk single crystals exist and the phase is hard to stabilize. Since U6+ has no 5f electrons it cannot support magnetic order. We wish to measure the intensities of the first 6 AF reflections to determine the individual moments, and hence whether such a U6+ site exists.

Principal Investigator: Professor Gerry Lander
Experimenter: Professor Sean Langridge
Experimenter: Dr Ross Springell
Local Contact: Dr Fabio Orlandi
Experimenter: Miss Lottie Harding
Experimenter: Miss Eleanor Lawrence Bright

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1920180

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1920180

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Gerry Lander et al; (2020): Magnetic configuration of an epitaxial thin film of U2N3, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1920180

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.