Synthesis of thorium dioxide doped with gadolinium via a wet chemical route

The thesis work aimed at the design and synthesis of thoria and gadolinium-doped thoria powders via wet chemical routes allowing the production of high density sintered pellets, and the determination of the effect of doping on the unit cell parameter of a series of Th1-xGdxO2-x/2. Various synthetic routes were selected as candidates, promising production of highly sinterable thoria powders. Since the most extensively studied method of thoria powder synthesis is via the oxalate precipitation route, this method served as a reference or standard method, with which the usefulness of other methods were compared.