Recovery of deuterium from argon carrier gas by ZrNi modified with electroless Pd coating

The effectiveness of Pd-coating on ZrNi against impurity gas exposure was e xamined. X-ray diffraction profiles revealed that the surfaces of plate and grain samples are readily covered with Pd by electroless plating. Mutual d iffusion between the Pd-overlayer and the ZrNi substrate and PdZr formation took place by vacuum hearing above 973 K. Deuterium recovery (DR) in a flo wing argon carrier gas containing 5 ppm of impurity gases was examined usin g packed columns of bare ZrNi and Pd/ZrNi grains. Results indicate that the Pd-coating successfully extends the life time of ZrNi against impurity gas es at low temperature below 473 K. Furthermore, no noticeable reduction in DR was found in Pd/ZrNi, whereas bare ZrNi loss its activity at 10 ks at 57 3 K.