Topology of the Electron Density and of Its Laplacian from Periodic LCAO Calculations on f-Electron Materials: The Case of Cesium Uranyl Chloride

The chemistry of f-electrons in lanthanide and actinide materials is yet to be fully rationalized. Quantum-mechanical simulations can provide useful complementary insight to that obtained from experiments. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules and crystals (QTAIMAC), through thorough topological analysis of the electron density (often complemented by that of its Laplacian) constitutes a general and robust theoretical framework to analyze chemical bonding features from a computed wave function. Here, we present the extension of the Topond module (previously limited to work in terms of s-, p- and d-type basis functions only) of the Crystal program to f- and g-type basis functions within the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) approach. This allows for an effective QTAIMAC analysis of chemical bonding of lanthanide and actinide materials. The new implemented algorithms are applied to the analysis of the spatial distribution of the electron density and its Laplacian of the cesium uranyl chloride, Cs2UO2Cl4, crystal. Discrepancies between the present theoretical description of chemical bonding and that obtained from a previously reconstructed electron density by experimental X-ray diffraction are illustrated and discussed.

A Study of Uranyl (VI) Chloride Complexes in Aqueous Solutions under Hydrothermal Conditions using Raman Spectroscopy

ABSTRACTThe transport and deposition of uranium under hydrothermal conditions in the Earth’s crust has been a subject of ongoing study but is yet to be completely understood. In addition, there is little known about the fate of nuclear waste, consisting of uranium from spent fuel and other radioactive materials, upon storage in repositories or in nuclear reactor facilities. Because the nuclear waste often comes in contact with aqueous fluids in storage environments, studies of uranyl complexation with chloride and other ligands in aqueous media, to high temperature and pressure conditions, are needed. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the speciation of aqueous uranyl (VI) chloride complexes, in solutions having a 0.05 M uranyl concentration and [Cl] concentrations ranging from 0.2 M to 6 M, under hydrothermal conditions. The aqueous uranyl chloride complexes in the samples were studied using Raman spectroscopy and the hydrothermal diamond anvil cell (HDAC), at temperatures up to 500 °C and pressures up to ~ 0.5 GPa. The uranyl bond stretching band feature occurring in the ~810 to 870 cm-1 region was fitted using the Voigt peak shape to determine the speciation of the equilibrium uranyl chloride complexes present in the samples. As expected, the n integer value of the UO2Cln+2-n complex species increases with the increase in temperature and chloride concentration, generally trending toward charge neutrality at high temperatures.