Carbon Aerogels - Hot Catchers for Exotic Isotopes and/or Molecular Species

Short-lived isotopes are expected to play a key role in unravelling the unanswered questions in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics and fundamental interactions at low energies. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), planned for construction in the US, will have unique capabilities for development of exotic beams to support these studies. The DOE FRIB program is seeking advances in hot catcher techniques to improve yields of rare isotopes as atomic or single-species molecular vapors. The applicant has teamed with experts to develop carbon aerogels with meso- and macroporous microstructure to facilitate trapping radioactive isotopes for the efficient release of single-species molecular vapors. The project will focus on developing a fast-release, highly efficient hot catcher material to support FRIB requirements. The project team will develop nanotechnology-derived carbon aerogels with tunable surface area and porosity as potential catcher materials for the release of single species molecular vapors. The small business will fabricate the carbon aerogels and characterize them by surface and pore size analysis. The collaborator will evaluate the structural stability and interconnectivity of pores when operated at temperatures ranging from 1000