The unoccupied electronic structure characterization of hydrothermally grown ThO₂ single crystals

Authors

• Tony D. Kelly, Air Force Institute of Technology
• James C. Petrosky, Air Force Institute of Technology
• David Turner, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
• John W. McClory, Air Force Institute of Technology
• J. Matthew Mann, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Joseph W. Kolis, Clemson University
• Xin Zhang, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• Peter A. Dowben, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2014

Abstract

Single crystals of thorium dioxide ThO2, grown by the hydrothermal growth technique, have been investigated by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS), inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES), and L₃, M₃, M₄, and M₅ X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). The experimental band gap for large single crystals has been determined to be 6 eV to 7 eV, from UPS and IPES, in line with expectations. The combined UPS and IPES, place the Fermi level near the conduction band minimum, making these crystals n-type, with extensive band tailing, suggesting an optical gap in the region of 4.8 eV for excitations from occupied to unoccupied edge states. Hybridization between the Th 6d/5f bands with O 2p is strongly implicated. 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Comments

Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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DOI

10.1002/pssr.201308286

Source Publication

Physica Status Solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters (ISSN 1862-6254)

Recommended Citation

Kelly, T.D., Petrosky, J.C., Turner, D., McClory, J.W., Mann, J.M., Kolis, J.W., Zhang, X. and Dowben, P.A. (2014), The unoccupied electronic structure characterization of hydrothermally grown ThO2 single crystals. Phys. Status Solidi RRL, 8: 283-286. https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201308286