Systematic study of thin barium/radium target production using electroplating method

This work focuses on the production of thin homogeneous radium targets for evaluation of excitation functions in nuclear reactions of ²²⁶Ra for the production of ²²⁵Ac. An electroplating method was used to produce the targets where ^natBa was used as a chemical homologue of ²²⁶Ra, spiked with ²²³Ra to evaluate the efficiency of deposition. The impact of multiple chemical and physical parameters on the electroplating process onto different backing materials was investigated in terms of deposit quality and deposition efficiency. The homogeneity and morphology of the produced deposits were characterized by optical microscopy, SEM, profilometry and radioluminography. In an optimized electrodeposition process, stable and homogeneous deposits were obtained on Al substrates with a deposition efficiency of 69(3)%.