• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2017

The small-scale electroplating device was designed and fabricated for Ni-63 sealed source (foil type) with a high specific activity needed for production of betavoltaic battery. The condition of Ni electroplating was optimized by using fabricated electroplating device to establish a Ni-63 electroplating condition on the Ni foil. The results showed that the optimum surface morphology and thickness of Ni deposit was obtained for 1,758 seconds at a current density of $15mA{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ with 0.5% tween 20. Radioisotope Ni-63 electroplating was implemented under established condition. The radioactivity of Ni-63 sealed source was calculated to $28mCi{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, and the thickness of Ni-63 deposit was about $2.4{\mu}m$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.1978-1982
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• 2019

The paper presents the electrical performance measurements of a prototype nuclear battery and two types of betavoltaic cells. The electrical performance was assessed by measuring current-voltage properties (I-V) and determining the short-circuit current and the open-circuit voltage. With ⁶³Ni as an irradiation source, the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current were determined as 1 V and 64 nA, respectively. The prototype consisted of 10 betavoltaic cells that were prepared using radioactive ⁶³Ni. Electroplating of the radioactive ⁶³Ni on an ohmic contact (Ti-Ni) was carried out at a current density of 20 mA/㎠. Two types of betavoltaic cells were studied: with an external ⁶³Ni source and a ⁶³Ni-covered source. Under irradiation of the ⁶³Ni source with an activity of 10 mCi, the open-circuit voltage V_oc of the fabricated cells reached 151 mV and 109 mV; the short-circuit current density J_sc was measured to be 72.9 nA/cm2 and 64.6 nA/㎠, respectively. The betavoltaic cells had the fill factor of 55% and 50%, respectively.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.167-170
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• 2015

Radioisotope (Nuclear) battery using $^{63}Ni$ was prepared as beta cell. The electroplated $^{63}Ni$ on Ni foil is fabricated, and beta cell and photovoltaic hybrid battery was designed to use at both day and night in space project. A Ni-plating solution is prepared by dissolving metal particles including $^{62}Ni$ and $^{63}Ni$ from neutron irradiation of ($n,{\gamma}$). Electroplating solution of a chloride bath consists on nickel ions in HCl, $H_3BO_3$, and KOH. The deposition was carried out at current density of $10mA\;cm^{-2}$. The prepared beta source was attached on a PN junction and measured I-V properties. The power output at activity of 0.07 mCi and 0.45 mCi were 0.55 pW and 2.69 nW, respectively.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2007

Combined method of extraction chromatography and liquid scintillation analysis was established for determinating $^{55}Fe\;and\;^{63}Ni$ radioactivity in solid samples. Activated concrete wastes generated from dismantling KRR-2 were analysed. The sequential separation including precipitation and extraction chromatography resulted in the above 90% chemical recoveries of Fe. Above 62% recoveries of Ni were obtained by this procedure exception to 43.6 and 46.5% recoveries. The seperation and counting procedure was also confirmed with spiked samples of known quantity. The measured and spiked quantity were agreed with the 3.7% and 0.7% variations in the $^{55}Fe\;and\;^{63}Ni$ experiments, respectively. The radioactivities of $^{55}Fe$ in the dismantled concretes are shown from below MDA to maximum 362 Bq/g. The radioactivities of $^{63}Ni$ in all concrete samples are below MDA. The $^{63}Ni$ doesn't exist in dismantled concretes from KRR-2. The radioactivity of $^{55}Fe$ is decreased rapidly as the sampling depth is increased from the concrete surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.377.2-377.2
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• 2004

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.773-777
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• 2016

A betavoltaic battery was prepared using radioactive $^{63}Ni$ attached to a three-dimensional single trenched P-N absorber. The optimum thickness of a $^{63}Ni$ layer was determined to be approximately $2{\mu}m$, considering the minimum self-shielding effect of beta particles. Electroplating of radioactive $^{63}Ni$ on a nickel (Ni) foil was carried out at a current density of $20mA/cm^2$. The difference of the short-circuit currents ($I_{sc}$) between the pre- and post-deposition of $^{63}Ni$ (16.65 MBq) on the P-N junction was 5.03 nA, as obtained from the I-V characteristics. An improved design with a sandwich structure was provided for enhancing performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.63-63
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• 2003

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.309-317
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• 2005

A study on the separation of $^{99}Tc,\;^{94}Nb,\;^{55}Fe,\;^{90}Sr\;and\;^{59/63}Ni$ in various radioactive wastes discharged from nuclear power plants has been performed for a use in their quantification which is indispensible for the evaluation of the radionuclide inventory Ni was recovered along with Ca, Mg, Al, Cr, Ti, Mn, Ce, Na, K, and Cu through the sequential separation procedure of Re(as a surrogate of $^{99}Tc$), Nb, Fe and Sr by anion exchange and Sr-Spec extraction chromatography. In this research, chemical separation of Ni from the co-existing elements was investigated by cation exchange and Ni-Spec extraction chromatography. Precipitation behaviour of Ni and the co-existing elements with dimethylglyoxime(DMG) was investigated in ammonium $citrate/ethanol-H_2O$ and tartaric $acid/acetone-H_2O$ in order to purify separated Ni fractions and to prepare $^{59/63}Ni$ source for the radioactivity measurement using a gas proportional counter. Recovery of Ni separated through ion exchange chromatographic separation procedure was $92.1\%$ with relative standard deviation of $0.9\%$. In addition, recovery of Ni with DMG in the tartaric $acid/acetone-H_2O$ was $85.6\%$ with relative standard deviation of $1.9\%$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2017

Chloride plating solution was fabricated by dissolving metal Ni powders in a mixed solution with HCl and de-ionized water. Effects of $Ni^{2+}$ and saccharin concentrations in the plating baths on current efficiency, residual stress, surface morphology and microstructure of Ni films were studied. In the case of $0.2M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration, current efficiency was decreased to about 65 % with increasing saccharin concentration, but, in the case of $0.7M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration, it was shown more than 90 % with the increase of saccharin concentration. Residual stress of Ni thin film was appeared to be about 400 MPa up to 0.0244 M saccharin concentration at the $0.2M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration and surface morphology with severe cracks was observed in the range of 0.0487~0.0975 M saccharin concentration. Residual stress of Ni thin films was measured to be about 750 MPa without saccharin addition and 114~148 MPa at the range of 0.0097~0.0975 M saccharin concentration for the $0.7M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration. Relatively low residual stress values (114~148 MPa) of the Ni films at the range of 0.0097~0.0975 M saccharin concentration may be resulted from codeposition of S from saccharin. Ni films at $0.7M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration showed smooth surface morphology and were independent of saccharin concentration. Ni films at $0.7M\;Ni^{2+}$ concentration consist of FCC(111), FCC(200), FCC(220) and FCC(311) peaks and the intensities of FCC(111) and FCC(200) peaks increased with increasing saccharin concentration. Also, the average grain size decreased with increasing saccharin concentration from about 30 nm to about 15 nm.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3811-3815
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• 2022

Ni-63 is pure beta source which emits low energy beta particles. The Ni-63 sources were fabricated to develop the beta-voltaic battery which converts decay energy into electrical energy for power generation. Activity distribution of the source was important factor of power producibility of the beta-voltaic battery. Liquid scintillation counter widely used for measurement of low energy beta emitters was not suitable to measure activity distribution. In this study, we used the peeled-off Gafchromic™ EBT3 film to measure the activity distribution of the Ni-63 source. Absorbed dose was increased proportionally to the source activity and exposure duration. The low energy beta particles could transport the energy into the active layer without the polyester protective layer. Also, Activity distribution was measured by using the peeled-off EBT3 film. Two-dimensional dosimetric distribution was suitable to measure the activity distribution. To use the peeled-off EBT3 film is user-friendly and cost-effective method for quality assurance of the Ni-63 sources for the beta-voltaic battery.