Selective electrochemical extraction of technetium for separating 99Tc from a molybdenum target in the production of radiopharmaceuticalsстатья
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Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 23 января 2026 г.
Аннотация:An electrochemical method for the concentration of 99mTc, which is essential for the visualization of internal organs in radiopharmaceutical diagnostics and is produced by neutron irradiation of a molybdenum target, has been proposed. The separation of technetium was carried out electrochemically, based on the fact that the equilibrium reduction potential of pertechnetate ions is significantly more positive compared to that of molybdate ions. Since electroreduction of pertechnetate ions proceeds with diffusion limitations due to their relative low concentration of the solution, an additional agitation of the solution is needed to improve the electroextraction efficiency of technetium. The diffusion coefficient of TcO₄− ions, determined using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) method, was found to be (4.1 ± 0.3) × 10−5 cm2 s−1. The electrolytic deposits were studied using a set of modern physical methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The analysis revealed that the main product of the electrochemical reduction of pertechnetate ions is TcO₂·nH₂O, while the presence of molybdenum species in the deposits was found to be negligible. Under optimal process conditions, the efficiency of technetium recovery from a solution containing an excess of molybdate ions reached 90 % within half an hour.