Physicists make a startling new type of Plutonium
One of the most major properties of the chemical conduct of Pu is the assortment of its oxidation states (the oxidation state is characterized by the number of electrons that are expelled from the valence orbitals of a neutral atom).
Four oxidation states (from III to VI) may coincide under environmental conditions, (VII) and even (VIII) states are proposed to be steady under highly alkaline oxidative conditions.
Pu in the pentavalent oxidation state, Pu (V), has three electrons in the 5f shell, leaving the 6d orbitals void.
“It all started when we were trying to create plutonium dioxide nanoparticles using different precursors,” said Dr. Kristina Kvashnina, a physicist at the Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and based at the ROBL beamline at the European Synchrotron, and ...