IR and Mössbauer spectroscopic study of cerium iron borophosphate glasses

Possible use of iron phosphate/borophosphate glasses for the vitrification of nuclear wastes containing Pu has been investigated on the basis of cerium as it is considered one of the nonradioactive surrogates for Pu. A series of glasses with nominal compositions of xCeO2-yB2O3−[40 − (x + y)]Fe2O3-60P2O5 (x = 2-8, y = 0-4, mol%) have been synthesized and their structure was studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, differential thermal analysis, infrared and Mössbauer spectroscopy. All of the compositions studied formed glass. The aqueous dissolution rates calculated from the bulk weight losses indicate that the chemical durability of these glasses is comparable to base iron phosphate glass. Even though there are some variations in the low frequency part of the IR spectra upon addition of CeO2, the basic structure of iron phosphate/borophosphate glasses does not seem to be greatly affected by Ce addition. Analysis of Mössbauer spectra showed that iron exists as ferrous and ferric ions in the glasses studied and both iron ions have octahedral coordination.