Chemical response of lithiated graphite with deuterium irradiation

C. N. Taylor, B. Heim, J. P. Allain

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36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lithium wall conditioning has been found to enhance plasma performance for graphite walled fusion devices such as TFTR, CDX-U, T-11M, TJ-II and NSTX. Among observed plasma enhancements is a reduction in edge density and reduced deuterium recycling. The mechanism by which lithiated graphite retains deuterium is largely unknown. Under controlled laboratory conditions, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to observe the chemical changes that occur on ATJ graphite after lithium deposition. The chemical state of lithiated graphite is found to change upon deuterium irradiation indicating the formation Li-O-D, manifest at 532.9 ± 0.6 eV. Lithium-deuterium interactions are also manifest in the C 1s photoelectron energy range and show Li-C-D interactions at 291.2 ± 0.6 eV. Post-mortem NSTX tiles that have been exposed to air upon extraction are cleaned and examined, revealing the chemical archaeology that formed during NSTX operations. XPS spectra show strong correlation (± 0.3 eV) in Li-O-D and Li-O peaks from post-mortem and control experiments, thus validating offline experiments. We report findings that show that deuterium is found to interact with lithium after lithium has already reacted with carbon and oxygen.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number053306
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume109
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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