Hydrogen Loading System Development and Evaluation of Tritiated Substrates to Optimize Performance in Tritium Based Betavoltaics

Author

Thomas E. Adams, Purdue UniversityFollow

Date of Award

Fall 2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Nuclear Engineering

First Advisor

Shripad T. Revankar

Committee Chair

Dr. Shripad T. Revankar

Committee Member 1

Dr. Audeen Fentiman

Committee Member 2

Dr. Anter El-Azab

Committee Member 3

Dr. Peter Cabauy

Committee Member 4

Dr. Scott Greenway

Abstract

State-of-the-art hydrogen loading system onto thin metallic films based on differential pressure in calibrated chambers has been developed for conditions pressures and temperatures up to 69 bar and 500°C, respectively. Experiments on hydrogen loading on to palladium films of thickness 50 and 250 nm were conducted at pressure ranging from 0.2 bar to 10 bar at temperature 310°C. For first time film hydrogen loading was carried out at 1 bar and at room temperature which temperature. Beta flux exiting surface of metal tritide films has been modeled with MC-SET (Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron Trajectories in solids). Surface beta flux simulations have been improved to account for density changes from tritium loading and decay. Simulation results indicate a 300 nm slab of MgT₂ has a surface flux three times higher than in ScT₂, and six times higher than in TiT₂. Commercial betavoltaic cells were tested at different temperature environment for their evaluation and characterization.

Recommended Citation

Adams, Thomas E., "Hydrogen Loading System Development and Evaluation of Tritiated Substrates to Optimize Performance in Tritium Based Betavoltaics" (2014). Open Access Dissertations. 408.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/408