posted on 2014-05-20, 00:00authored byJán Krausko, Jiří Runštuk, Vilém Neděla, Petr Klán, Dominik Heger
Observation
of a uranyl-salt brine layer on an ice surface using
backscattered electron detection and ice surface morphology using
secondary-electron detection under equilibrium conditions was facilitated
using an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) at temperatures
above 250 K and pressures of hundreds of Pa. The micrographs of a
brine layer over ice grains prepared by either slow or shock freezing
provided a complementary picture of the contaminated ice grain boundaries.
Fluorescence spectroscopy of the uranyl ions in the brine layer confirmed
that the species exists predominately in the solvated state under
experimental conditions of ESEM.