Structure of Rhenium-Containing Sodium Borosilicate Glass

A series of sodium borosilicate glasses were synthesized with increasing fractions of KReO4 or Re2O7, to 10000 ppm (1 mass%) target Re in glass, to assess the effects of large concentrations of rhenium on glass structure and to estimate the solubility of technetium, a radioactive component in typical low active waste nuclear waste glasses. Magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were performed to characterize the glasses as a function of Re source additions. In general, silicon was found coordinated in a mixture of Q2 and Q3 structural units, while Al was 4-coordinated and B was largely 3-coordinate and partially 4-coordinated. The rhenium source did not appear to have significant effects on the glass structure. Thus, at the up to the concentrations that remain in dissolved in glass, ~3000 ppm Re by mass maximum. , the Re appeared to be neither a glass-former nor a strong glass modifier., Rhenium likely exists in isolated ReO4- anions in the interstices of the glass network, as evidenced by the polarized Raman spectrum of the Re glass in the absence of sulfate. Analogous to SO42-¬ in similar glasses, ReO4- is likely a network modifier and formsmore » alkali salt phases on the surface and in the bulk glass above solubility.« less