Semipermeable membrane to retain platinum atoms in the electrodeposition process of alpha spectrometry sources

In earlier work alpha sources electrodeposited on stainless steel backings were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) finding that during the electrodeposition process large quantities of platinum from the anode were deposited on the cathode surface jointly with the actinides. In the present work, a method to retain platinum atoms using an electrodeposition cell with a semipermeable membrane located between anode and cathode is proposed and tested. The XRF and RBS of alpha sources electrodeposited using this method show that there is less platinum on the stainless steel backing, thereby improving the quality of sources to be measured by alpha spectrometry.