Industrially produced metakaolin may contain raw kaolin residues. Therefore, the aim of this work was to determine the impact of kaolin remains on the metakaolin and the final geopolymer quality. A series of mixtures based on metakaolin (Mefisto L05 by CLUZ Nove Straseci, Czech Republic) was prepared with the 0-60 wt% gradual addition of raw kaolin, and the mechanical strength of the final geopolymer products was tested. It was found that up to a 20 wt. % amount of kaolin in metakaolin does not weaken the geopolymer’s performance. Moreover, a geopolymer made of metakaolin with 2-4 wt% of kaolin showed slightly better mechanical properties than the geopolymers made from metakaolin itself.

Hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide are widely used materials in a broad spectrum of branches. Due to their appropriate properties such as a large specific surface area, radiation stability or relatively low toxicity, they could be potentially used as nanocarriers for medicinal radionuclides for diagnostics and therapy. Two radiolabelling strategies of both nanomaterials were carried out by(99m)Tc for diagnostic purposes and by(223)Ra for therapeutic purposes. The first one was the radionuclide sorption on ready-made nanoparticles and the second one was direct radionuclide incorporation into the structure of the nanoparticles. Achieved labelling yields were higher than 94% in all cases. Afterwards, in vitro stability tests were carried out in several solutions: physiological saline, bovine blood plasma, bovine blood serum, 1% and 5% human albumin solutions. In vitro stability studies were performed as short-term (59 h for(223)Ra and 31 h for(99m)Tc) and long-term experiments (five half-lives of(223)Ra, approx. 55 days). Both radiolabelled nanoparticles with(99m)Tc have shown similar released activities (about 20%) in all solutions. The best results were obtained for(223)Ra radiolabelled titanium dioxide nanoparticles, where overall released activities were under 6% for 59 h study in all matrices and under 3% for 55 days in a long-term perspective.

Industrially produced metakaolin may contain raw kaolin residues. Therefore, the aim of this work was to determine the impact of kaolin remains on the metakaolin and the final geopolymer quality. A series of mixtures based on metakaolin (Mefisto L05 by CLUZ Nove Straseci, Czech Republic) was prepared with the 0-60 wt% gradual addition of raw kaolin, and the mechanical strength of the final geopolymer products was tested. It was found that up to a 20 wt. % amount of kaolin in metakaolin does not weaken the geopolymer’s performance. Moreover, a geopolymer made of metakaolin with 2-4 wt% of kaolin showed slightly better mechanical properties than the geopolymers made from metakaolin itself.

The mechanism of 223Ra uptake on hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide nanoparticles was studied as a function of pH. Both materials are widely used in food industry and medicine. They offer properties suitable for labelling with medicinal radionuclides, particularly for targeted radionuclide therapy. The selected isotope, 223Ra, is an alpha emitter widely used in targeted alpha particle therapy due to high-dose delivery in very small tissue volume, nevertheless the results are applicable for any radium isotope including 226Ra. The study was performed in the pH range 4.5 to 12 for hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and 2 to 12 for titanium dioxide nanoparticles in Britton-Robinson buffer solution. Both nanomaterials at pH 6 and higher showed that over 95% of the radium has been sorbed. According to the applied chemical equilibrium model, the most important species playing a role in sorption on the edge-sites were RaCO3, RaPO4 -, RaHPO4 and Ra(Ac-)2, and Ra2+ and RaH2PO4 + on layer-sites. All experiments were conducted under free air conditions and no negative impact of CO2 was found. The surface complexation model was found suitable for describing radium uptake by the studied hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide nanomaterials.

Sorption kinetics of radium on hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide nanomaterials were studied. The main aim of the current study was to determine the rate-controlling process and the corresponding kinetic model, due to the application of studied nanomaterials as α-emitters’ carriers, and to assess the sorption properties of both materials from the radiopharmaceutical point of view by time regulated sorption experiments on the nanoparticles. Radium-223 was investigated as radionuclide used in targeted alpha particle therapy as an in vivo generator. It was found that the controlling process of the 223Ra sorption kinetics was the diffusion in a reacted layer. Therefore, parameters like particle size, their specific surface area, contact time and temperature played important role. Moreover, the composition of liquid phase, such as pH, the concentration of 223Ra, ionic strength, the presence of complexation ligands, etc., had to be considered. Experiments were conducted under free air conditions and at pH 8 for hydroxyapatite and pH 6 for titanium dioxide in Britton–Robinson buffer. Initial 223Ra concentration was in the range from 10−11 to 10−12 mol/L. It was found that sorption kinetics was very fast (more than 90% in the first hour) in the case of both nanomaterials, so they can be directly used for efficient radium sorption.

We provide characterization data of hydroxyapatite (nHAp) and titanium dioxide (nTiO2) nanoparticles as potential materials for ion sorption, e.g. in targeted therapy, barrier materials for waste repositories or photovoltaics. The study is focused on the determination of the values of protonation and ion exchange constants and site densities (∑SOH, ∑X; [mol kg-1]) of nTiO2 and nHAp for further Ra kinetics and sorption experiments. These data are very important for further investigation of the materials, which can be used e.g. as drug delivery systems or in engineered barriers of deep geological repositories. The characterization was based on the evaluation of the dependence of titrating agent consumption on pH. Titration results were evaluated on the basis of several model combinations, however the combination of the Chemical Equilibrium Model (CEM) and Ion Exchange Model (IExM) fits best to the experimental titration curves. However, the differences between the two sorbents were relatively large. Due to stability in a broad pH range and available surface sites, nTiO2 seems to have a wide application range. The applicability of nHAp is not so wide because of its dissolution under pH 5. Both sorbents are virtually able to sorb cationic species on deprotonated edge and layer sites with different capacities, which can be important for sorption and decontaminating applications.

released and collected on line.The first case was limited by the melting point of the metal target, and the second was limited by the target being heated only to 60 C. The release and capture were quantified by off-line gamma counting of the long lived 207Bi daughter remaining in the production target and in the charcoal.In upcoming test runs target heating up to 600 oC will be implemented to increase release and collection efficiency.

The use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and radiolabelled nanoparticles (NPs) has grown considerably over the recent years, and the SPIONs labelled with medicinal radionuclides offer new opportunities in multimodal diagnostics and in the drug-delivery systems for targeted alpha-particle therapy (TAT) driven by magnetic field gradient or by biologically active moieties bound on NPs shell. However, the mechanisms of NPs radiolabelling are not studied substantially and still remain unclear, even though the way of label attachment directly implies the stability of the label-nanoparticle construct. Since the 223Ra was the first clinically approved alpha-emitter, it is a promising nuclide for further development of its targeted carriers. We report here on the study of 223Ra uptake by the Fe3O4 SPIONs, together with an attempt to propose the 223Ra uptake mechanism by the Fe3O4 NPs in the presence of a phosphate buffer a typical formulation medium, under the pseudo-equilibrium conditions. Further, the in vitro stability tests of the prepared [223Ra]Fe3O4 NPs were performed to estimate the 223Ra label stability. The potential use of 223Ra-labelled SPIONs in theranostic applications is also discussed.

Radium-223 is a prospective alpha-emitter for targeted radionuclide therapy. Although 223Ra is formed naturally by the decay of 235U, for practical reasons its preparation involves neutron irradiation of 226Ra. The β− decay of the 227Ra (T ½ = 43 min) produced via 226Ra(n,γ)227Ra reaction leads to 227Ac, a mother nuclide of 227Th and subsequently 223Ra. Radium target material is generally available in multigram quantities from historical stock. The main aim of this study was to experimentally as well as theoretically evaluate and verify the available literature data on production of 227Ac/223Ra. According to the data obtained from the γ-spectra, the approximate yield values were determined and effective cross section value for the 227Ac production was calculated to 14 ± 4 b.