Publications

Sep, 2026

Journal

Real-Time Quantification of Hydrogen and Deuterium Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in the Off-Gas of an Engineering-Scale Pumped Molten Salt Loop

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is being considered for elemental analysis of radionuclides transported into the off-gas system of molten salt reactors. A mobile LIBS system was calibrated for gas-phase measurements of hydrogen (i.e., protium, denoted here as H) and deuterium (D) in argon (Ar). The system was then used to quantify the concentrations of H and D…

Sep, 2026

Journal

Single particle – MC-ICP-MS for isotopic analysis of uranium particles

Single particle – multi-collector – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (SP-MC-ICP-MS) was employed to measure a suspension of 1 µm U3O8 particles (∼1.3 pg total U/particle) to determine their individual isotopic compositions of 234U/238U, 235U/238U, and 236U/238U. The effects of different detector combinations for 235U and 238U, including secondary electron mul…

Aug, 2026

ORNL Report

Summary of Initial Fluoride Fuel Salt Purification and Synthesis

Aug, 2026

Journal

Development of a Flow-through Cell for Ultrasonic Extraction (UE)─Single Particle (SP)─ICP-MS─an Approach for Nano/Microparticle Elemental and Isotopic Analysis

Nanotechnology is a salient part of the scientific landscape, and analytical approaches are rapidly evolving to enable small-scale characterization of nano- and microparticle compositions and impurities. Here, a flow-through sonicating cell was developed for direct particle extraction from a silicon wafer and integrated with an inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometer…

Aug, 2026

Journal

A case study on the use of carbon sticky tabs for microbeam uranium isotope measurement with an emphasis on understanding the influence of subtle variations in substrate composition

In this paper we integrate laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), large geometry secondary ion mass spectrometry (LG-SIMS), laser ablation—multi collector—inductively coupled plasma—mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS), and trace elemental compositions obtained by bulk digestion from a suite of commercially available carbon sticky tabs to determine if subtle variations i…

Jul, 2026

Journal

Single Particle Isotopic Analysis Using the Liquid Sampling-Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge (LS-APGD) Microplasma Coupled to an Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer

Jul, 2026

Journal

Understanding Discharge-Driven Growth of Cathode Impedance in Ni-Rich NMC Cathodes

Degradation of LiNixMnyCo1-x-yO2 (NMC)-based lithium-ion batteries depends strongly on cut-off voltage ranges. In addition to the high upper cut-off voltage, a high depth of discharge (i.e., lower cut-off voltage) significantly worsens cathode impedance growth and capacity fade during long-term cycling. However, there is currently no consensus on the mechanism behind the n…

Jul, 2026

Journal

Remote quantification of Cm(III) and HNO3 by fluorescence spectroscopy and chemometrics

A unique approach to remotely quantify Cm(III) (0–100 µg mL− 1) in HNO3 (1–12 M) using steady-state laser fluorescence spectroscopy and multivariate regression models was developed. Photoluminescence is amenable to remote measurements using fiber-optic cables and is sensitive to numerous lanthanide and actinide species. In-line measurements can provide feedback to support…

Jul, 2026

Journal

Quantifying Temperature Dependence of Pu(IV) Absorbance Spectra for Advanced Online Monitoring of Nuclear Processes

This article presents a systematic study of Pu(IV) absorbance spectral features as a function of temperature to develop an understanding of this parameter’s effect on chemometric models that can be used as online monitoring tools to support nuclear processing. The descriptive and predictive models that provide real-time feedback of these processes are usually constructed w…

May, 2026

Journal

Design of a Molten Salt Flow Cell for Combined Absorbance and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Online Measurements

A novel flow cell allowing for multiple optical spectroscopy measurements on flowing molten salts was designed, and demonstrative calibrations of impurities in aqueous samples were performed. Online compositional measurements of molten salts are of high interest to monitor the state of relevant solar and nuclear systems. The Spectroscopic Configuration for Optical Real-Tim…

May, 2026

Journal

Optimizing aluminum oxide passivation layers—Laser-induced plasmas for layer formation, real-time diagnostics, and layer evaluation

Molten salts have beneficial thermophysical and electrolytic properties, but the aggressive nature of molten salts requires corrosion mitigation strategies, such as structural material surface treatment. In this study, a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system was used to simultaneously ablate and monitor de-excitation spectra to form and identify dense alumina…

Apr, 2026

Journal

Elemental analysis of air-sensitive frozen molten salt samples using an inert transfer chamber for LIBS/LA-ICP-TOF-MS analysis

A novel inert sample transfer system was developed and employed to enable, for the first time, the analysis of air-sensitive salt samples in a two-volume ablation cell using simultaneous laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser ablation (LA)-inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-time-of-flight (TOF)-mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Molten salts are of growing inter…