The preparation and performance of graphene oxide-doped UO2 pellets

The poor thermal conductivity of UO2, however, reduces the safety of the reactor due to possible sharp temperature gradients. Graphene oxide (GO) is a kind of promising additive to improve the thermal conductivity of UO2 for its excellent thermal performance.

[Purpose]: This work aimed at achieving uniform distribution of GO in UO2 pellets, effectively controlling the doping amounts, and finally enhancing the thermal conductivity of UO2 pellets. [Methods]: GO-doped UO2 powders with different doping amounts were prepared by solid-liquid mixing method and ammonium diuranate (ADU) co-precipitation method. After selecting the optimized powdering process, the UO2-GO composite fuel pellets were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS).