A porous hexagonal boron nitride powder compact for the production and release of radioactive 11C

Simon Stegemann, J. Ballof, Thomas Elias Cocolios, J.G. Gorreia, Kristof Dockx, O. Poleshchuk, João Pedro Fernandes Pinto Ramos, J. Schell, Thierry Stora, Jozef Vleugels

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    A porous pre-sintered hexagonal boron nitride powder compact was recently developed as target for the production of intense 11C beams for Positron Emission Tomography-aided hadron therapy. In a previous study, this target has been characterized regarding its operational limitations. In this work, microstructural characterization with respect to the target's grain size, porosity and pore structure, and a dedicated fractional release study from activated targets, i.e. how much 11C is extracted by a short heat treatment, is presented. Corresponding results include an average grain size of approximately 1.7(1) μm , total and open porosity of 40(5) and 21(7)%, respectively, which is mostly composed of pores with sizes ranging from 120 to 470 nm. From the measured release fraction the order of magnitude of carbon's diffusion coefficient D(1500°C) = 1E-15 to 1E-14 cm2/s in porous boron nitride, and a 11C extraction efficiency of about 10% at 1500°C target temperature were estimated.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4086-4097
    Number of pages12
    JournalJournal of the European Ceramic Society
    Volume41
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Jul 2021

    Cite this