Ew. Schneider et al., Radiotracer method for quantifying the amount of platinum and rhodium deposited in automotive catalytic converters, NUCL INST A, 422(1-3), 1999, pp. 880-884
Radiotracer methods have been developed to quantify the amount of platinum
and rhodium deposited on automotive catalytic converters as a function of p
roduction conditions. In particular, this study determined the effects of s
elective adsorption and evaporation processes on the aqueous impregnation o
f converters with platinum group metal salts. The radiotracers used in this
study, Pt-191 and Rh-105, were produced by thermal neutron activation of P
t and Ru. Chemical processing was performed to remove undesired radioactive
products and to ensure that each tracer was in its appropriate chemical st
ate. This radiotracer method has been shown to be capable of measuring the
platinum and rhodium loading on an entire substrate with a precision better
than +/- 0.5%. At this precision level, the influence of selective adsorpt
ion and evaporation were determined. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig
hts reserved.