Simultaneous production and separation of no-carrier-added 111In, 109Cd from alpha particle induced silver target

A natural silver foil was bombarded by 30 MeV α-particles which produced 111In, 109Cd and 106mAg in the target matrix. 111In and 109Cd were separated from the Ag target matrix employing ion-exchange chromatography and liquid–liquid extraction (LLX). In the chromatographic separation, the active solution containing the NCA products were adsorbed in the column containing Dowex 50 and were eluted with HNO3. Bulk silver and 109Cd were sequentially eluted with 1 M HNO3. After complete elution of 109Cd and the bulk, 111In was eluted with 1.5 M HNO3. In the LLX, the NCA 111In was extracted to 1 % HDEHP (di-2(ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid) from 10−2 M HNO3 solution, leaving cadmium and bulk silver quantitatively in the aqueous phase. The NCA 109Cd was separated from the bulk Ag by precipitating Ag as AgCl. NCA 111In was stripped back quantitatively from HDEHP phase using 8 M HNO3.