Lead-free perovskite ceramics, which have excellent energy storage capabilities, are attracting attention owing to their high power density and rapid charge-discharge speed. Given that the energy-storage properties of perovskite ceramic capacitors are significantly improved by doping with various elements, modifying their chemical compositions is a fundamental strategy. This study investigated the effect of Zn doping on the microstructure and energy storage performance of potassium sodium niobate (KNN)-based ceramics. Two types of powders and their corresponding ceramics with compositions of (1-x)(K,Na)NbO3-xBi(Ni2/3Ta1/3)O3 (KNN-BNT) and (1-x)(K,Na)NbO3-xBi(Ni1/3Zn1/3Ta1/3) O3 (KNN-BNZT) were prepared via solid-state reactions. The results indicate that Zn doping retards grain growth, resulting in smaller grain sizes in Zn-doped KNN-BNZT than in KNN-BNT ceramics. Moreover, the Zn-doped KNNBNZT ceramics exhibited superior energy storage density and efficiency across all x values. Notably, 0.9KNN-0.1BNZT ceramics demonstrate an energy storage density and efficiency of 0.24 J/cm3 and 96%, respectively. These ceramics also exhibited excellent temperature and frequency stability. This study provides valuable insights into the design of KNNbased ceramic capacitors with enhanced energy storage capabilities through doping strategies.

We produced an activated carbon using sodium-lignosulfonate, in which we investigated how the sodium salt in lignin served as the activating agent during heat treatment. Our process resulted in a product with a high specific surface area of 1324 m2/ g at 800 °C and microporous structure. During the activation process, we observed the consumption of carbon due to the dehydration reaction of NaOH and the reduction of Na2CO3 to metallic Na, which created pores through oxidation/ reduction reactions. The intercalation of metallic Na between the lattices at high temperatures formed additional pores and increased the specific surface area. Our proposed mechanism holds promise for enhancing the control of the microstructure and porosity of activated carbons through the thermal treatment of biomass.

Polycarboxylic ether-based high-range water reducer (PCE) has been proposed to use due to the operational advantages of reduced water content and increased fluidity of cementitious mixtures. But the concern about using PCE can increase the mobility of radionuclides as well. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) showed that the PCE formulations increased radionuclide solubility in free solution. Solubility of U(VI), 239Pu, 241Am with the cementitious materials tested with 3:1 pulverized fuel Ash/Ordinary Portland Cement (PFA:OPC) and 9:1 Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag/OPC (GGBS:OPC) with PCE that increased at least one and, in some cases, more than three orders of magnitude (between 10-9 and 10-4 mol dm-3) for these radionuclides in the cement-equilibrated solution. It is possible that the relatively low molecular weight substances present in the PCE cement mixture increase the solubility of radionuclides. In addition, the organic substances that are easily miscible with water can contribute to increase the solubility. In this study, several radionuclides (Nb, Ni, Pd, Zr, and Sn) that may be present in intermediate and low-level waste (LIW) repositories were selected based on the half-life and the estimated dose accordingly, and the solubility tests were conducted with and without PCE in solution. To simulate the field condition of the underground repository, synthetic groundwater was prepared based on the recipe by the KAERI Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) DB-3 GW and used as a solvent. The solubility limiting solid phase (SLSP) of each radionuclide was determined using Geochemist’s WorkBench (GWB) model. The selected solid phases are Ni(OH)2, ZrSiO4, Nb2O5, Pd(metal), and SnO2, respectively, and the solubility experiments were conducted with 1.0wt% of PCE per total weight and 0.5 g / 250 ml of selected radionuclide’s SLSP for 90 days at room temperature (25°C). Compared with and without PCE presence in solution, the selected radionuclides also showed an increased solubility with the presence of water reducing agent like PCE. This results can be used to correctly estimate the mobility of target radionuclides with the presence of PCE in repository environments.

Bentonite is the most probable candidate to be used as a buffer in a deep geological repository with high swelling properties, hydraulic conductivity, thermal conductivity, and radionuclide sorption ability. Among them, the radionuclide sorption ability prevents or delays the transport of radionuclides into the nearby environment when an accident occurs and the radionuclide leaks from the canister, so it needs to be strengthened in terms of long-term disposal safety. Here, we proposed a surface modification method in which some inorganic additives were added to form NaP zeolite on the surface of the bentonite yielded at Yeonil, South Korea. We confirmed that the NaP zeolite was well-formed on the bentonite surface, which also increased the sorption efficiency of Cs and Sr from groundwater conditions. Both NaP and NaX zeolite can be produced and we have demonstrated that the generation mechanism of NaX and NaP is due to the number of homogeneous/heterogeneous nucleation sites and the number of nutrients supplied from an aluminosilicate gel during the surface modification process. This study showed the potential of surface modification on bentonite to enhance the safety of deep geological radioactive waste repository by improving the radionuclide sorption ability of bentonite.