Aznan Fazli Ismail

• P.hD (Nuclear and Quantum Engineering)
• National University of Malaysia

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) is incorporated into the epoxy matrix using ethanol as a solvent for potential use for low-level neutron sensing. The uniformity of the distribution of the SWCNT within the epoxy matrix was confirmed with surface morphology, was further verified by XRD diffraction patterns, Raman, Fourier Transform Infrared (F...

This study investigates the effect of calcination temperature on the electrical performance of lanthanum strontium titanate ferrite (LSTF) as a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode material. The LSTF precursor was calcined at temperatures ranging from 900 °C to 1200 °C and transformed into inks, which were then applied on both sides of yttria stabi...

Effective management of slightly used nuclear fuel (SUNF) is crucial for both technical and public acceptance reasons. SUNF management, radiotoxicity risk, and associated financial investment and technological capabilities are major concerns in nuclear power production. Reducing the volume of SUNF can simplify its management, and one possible solut...

Soil excavation in search of mineral ores serves as one of means of livelihood to many families in Nigeria. Even though the process was found to be associated with many concerns pertaining to radiological health, which many of the mining workers and dwellers around the sites are unaware of. In an effort to bridges this gap and provide a handful of...

This study investigates the radiological hazard and heavy metal contamination of water effluents from Malaysian tin-tailing processing plants. Samples were collected from retention ponds in seven separate tin tailing processing plants scattered throughout the state of Perak, Malaysia. Samples were analysed for radioactivity and heavy metal concentr...

The extraction of heavy metals and rare-earth elements from tailing residue has caused a significant impact towards the environment as well as the industrial workers as a result from the contamination caused by the processing activities. The radionclide concentration of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in soil and tailing residue were found to be within the r...

This study offers a neutronisc core calculation to assess the potential of the compact microheterogeneous thorium-uranium TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel design for the micro-modular high temperature reactor. The Duplex-fueled core and the Seed-and-Blanket-Unit (SBU)-fueled core were modelled and compared using the MCNPX 2.7 Monte Carlo code....

This study investigated the efficacy of using phosphate-modified zeolite (PZ) as an adsorbent for removing thorium from aqueous solutions. The effects of various factors such as contact time, adsorbent mass, initial thorium concentration, and pH value of the solution on the removal efficiency were analyzed using the batch technique to obtain optimu...

The rapid advancement of technology has highlighted the importance of rare earth elements (REE) for achieving sustainability. However, despite their potential, there are several challenges such as high demand, price fluctuations, supply risks, and unstable geopolitical landscapes that hinder their recovery efforts. Malaysia has been involved in the...

The study aims to assess long-term radiological exposure risks and effects to both industrial workers and occupants living in the near vicinity of local tailing processing plants. The detrimental effects of licensing exemption were studied by comparing contaminated soil collected from 7 unlicensed—by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board—tailing proces...

The natural zeolite has been modified with sulphate and phosphate. The adsorption of thorium from the aqueous solutions by using the natural and modified zeolites has been investigated via a batch method. The adsorbent samples were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emi...

This paper presents an extensive radiological mapping of the Doguwa tin mining areas of Kano, Nigeria, where uranium has been found in quantities for commercial mining. The goal of this study is to provide detailed radiological information that could be used as a reference in monitoring any future environmental changes that may result from other na...

Mining of minerals increases the risk of exposure to natural radionuclides by exposing them to the outer surface of the earth. The risk increases when these radionuclides are migrated into the bodies of water that have been used for drinking purposes. This work was carried out to assess the radionuclides concentration in drinking water from tin min...

The end product of tin tailing processing, specifically heavy minerals, has paved the way for waste utilization contributed by the tin mining and extraction industry in Malaysia. However, the 1994 exemption order of this specific processing industry in complying with the Atomic Licensing Act 1984 has directly impacted plant workers and environmenta...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are eco‐friendly and yet highly efficient power generation devices. However, SOFCs face some commercial issues with durability, reliability, sustainability, and fabrication costs. In recent years, a unique design idea of symmetrical cell configuration of SOFCs with similar anode and cathode materials, commonly known a...

To improve the performance of the thorium fuel, the duplex fuel potential for the micro-sized high-temperature reactor (HTR) using TRISO fuel has previously been investigated. The objective of this work is to expand on past research by delving deeper into several crucial components of the microheterogeneous thorium-uranium TRISO fuel compact. The M...

The UO2 seed and ThO2 blanket in the duplex fuel pellet were originally designed to increase the breeding rate of fissile materials in light water breeder reactors. In this configuration, most of the fission reactions occur in the seed portion, resulting in high temperature of the seed region. As such, duplex feel pellet could possibly be advantage...

The tin tailing processing industry in Malaysia has operated with minimal regard and awareness for material management and working environment safety, impacting the environment and workers in aspects of radiation and heavy metal exposure. RIA was conducted where environmental samples were analyzed, revealing concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K b...

The thorium concentration in monazite can be as high as 6-15 wt. % and it has the potential to be used in the nuclear power system as fuel. Thorium is predominantly present in the form of thorium orthophosphate (Th3(PO4)4) along with the other rare-earth phosphates [Ce, La, Nd, Pr, Sm (PO4)] in the monazite mineral. The alkaline decomposition metho...

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is known for its higher efficiency compared to the other types of fuel cells. Even so, the application of SOFC is hindered by the operational temperature of 800 °C–1000 °C. Lowering the operational temperature below 1000 °C of SOFC becomes the major concern to allow wider applications as well as to increase the durabili...

Aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) is capable of producing WO3 film with good optical and electrical properties for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the conventional AACVD method is time-consuming because post-annealing treatment is usually required after WO3 film was deposited under nitrogen flow. Therefore, we...

Comprehensive radiological survey and evaluation of heavy metal contamination were conducted in Chini Lake, which has been awarded a pristine title of Biosphere Reserve. The concentrations of 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K in sediments exceeded the average soil in Malaysia. Besides, the concentration of As, V, and Zn in sediments were greater than the Dutch...

In this study, a new insight into the doping engineering with nuclear fuel (ThO2) was performed and applied in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The successfully synthesized g-C3N4/ThO2 (∼5.8%) via thermal treatment and g-C3N4 polymerization (precursor: Urea, 30 min; 520 ˚C) manifested a remarkable and superior photocatalytic activity. Th...

Sandy texture soil, a major problem for agriculture requires structure and capacity improvements. However, utilization of soil conditioner may arrest this problem. This research was carried out to investigate the accumulated levels of metal ions and radionuclides in water, soil and plants following phosphogypsum organic (PG organic) added to a sand...

current to enhance the efficiencies across the Dye-semiconductor interface. Electron transfer is a basic process in dye-sensitized solar cells and many electronic devices. The electronic current evaluated for Tris (8-hydroxy) quinoline aluminium (Alq3) molecules contact with TiO% semiconductor via quantum scenario model for the donor-acceptor sy...

This paper presents the neutronic analysis of a tristructural isotropic (TRISO)-duplex fuel loaded into the high-temperature reactor (HTR) prismatic fuel block designs for a seed-and-blanket (S&B) reactor model. The selected fuel block design is the simplified model of a representative fuel configuration for the gas turbine–module helium reactor (G...

The present study aims to investigate the optimum parameter in producing high-purity thorium dioxide (ThO 2) using Di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D 2 EHPA) and Aliquat-336 as solvent materials. The extraction and purification process was performed using [Th-RE](OH) 4 compound which was selectively precipitated from the monazite leach solution. Se...

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a green and sustainable approach capable of driving mass hydrogen production in the future. To realize this vision, development of a well-performing photoelectrode is highly demanded. In this comprehensive study, electrodeposition technique was applied for fabricating BiVO4 films by regulating the depos...

Graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4) is a potential additive that can alter the polymer solar cells (PSC) performance. Hereby, we report a novel strategy by applying γ‐radiated g‐C3N4 as additive into bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell (BHJ‐PSC). The incorporation of γ‐radiated g‐C3N4 into the active layer P3HT:PC61BM augments the efficiency of BH...

Rare-earth (RE) industries generate a massive amount of radioactive residue containing high thorium concentrations. Due to the fact that thorium is considered a non-economic element, large volume of these RE processed residues are commonly disposed of without treatment. It is essential to study an appropriate treatment that could reduce the volume...

In this present study, thorium ion [Th(SO4)3²⁻] was removed from aqueous sulphate medium using fabricated activated carbon-based electrodes (CBE). The thermal cross-linking technique was used to synthesize the CBE. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emi...

The duplex fuel pellet includes UO2 components as seed and ThO2 blanket, originally designed to increase the breeding rate of fissile materials in light water breeder reactors. However, the seed portion alone concentrates most of the energy released from the fission reaction, which can make the seed temperature too high. The duplex fuel potential f...

Monazite is a phosphate mineral that contains thorium (Th) and rare earth elements. The Th concentration in monazite can be as high as 500 ppm, and it has the potential to be used as fuel in the nuclear power system. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct the techno-economic analysis (TEA) of Th extraction in the form of thorium oxide (ThO2) from m...

Background Predominant sandy, Beach Ridges Interspersed with Swales (BRIS) soil is a problematical soil for agriculture. It requires structure and capacity improvement due to its weak composition, low water retention capacity and high leaching of nutrients. However, there are hopes to improve it using different fertilizers in combination with organ...

Rare-earth (RE) extraction activities in Malaysia produce an average of 75000 tonnes of Water Leach Purification (WLP) residue containing an estimated 106 tonnes of thorium that leads to negative perception and concern among the public especially related to the environmental and radiological aspects. The main challenge to separate thorium from the...

This paper presents a systematic review of the micro-modular thorium-fueled high temperature reactors (HTR) loaded with duplex fuel pellet design. Specifically , each unique criterion of the design is discussed separately in an attempt to understand the combined advantages of the proposed reactor. Micro modular HTRs have great potential as a source...

Understanding the effect of electrochemical reaction on a particular material at the nanoscale level is essential for the application of solar conversion technology. Herein, electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) treatment was applied on the α-Fe2O3 thin films by varying the number of cycles between 0 and 100. The thorough investigation provides i...

Development of semiconductor heterojunction is a promising and yet challenging strategy to boost the performance of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. This paper describes the fabrication of heterojunction photoanode by coupling α-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4, via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) followed by spin coating technique a...

Activated carbon electrode has been tested as a potential sorbent for removal of Th ions from the actual wastewater sampel by electrosorption technique. The objective of this research is to investigate the performance of activated carbon electrode for remediation of real thorium sample. Adsorption of thorium ion by activated carbon electrodes was i...

The level of natural radioactivity and radiological risks attributed to forty (40) different ceramic tiles using gamma-ray spectroscopy employing high-purity germanium detector were studied. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K range from 37.5 ± 0.3 to 215.9 ± 5.8 Bq kg−1, 42.2 ± 0.1 to 181.8 ± 3.8 Bq kg−1 and 349.5 ± 25 to 1...

The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides from 80 samples of Malaysia's building materials sourced from either manufacturers or local suppliers were studied using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The radiological hazards associated with building materials under study were evaluated by calculating radium equivalent activity (Ra eq)....

In this study, 52 samples of ceramic materials were studied for 226Ra, 222Rn, 232Th and 40K natural radionuclides using high-purity germanium detector and relevant radiological hazards parameters were also appraised. Furthermore, the long-term variations of the total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) and effects of wall thickness on TEDE were establ...

This paper reports the successful exfoliation of nanosheets from bulk g-C3N4 by using urea as a precursor. The alteration from bulk g-C3N4 powder, changed its semiconductor arrangements such as the optical absorption, chemical bonding, and topography images. A slow direct low thermal treatment (∼40 °C, 24 h) was proposed as a formation of a thinner...

Thorium affects human health and causes environmental issues. The concentration of thorium in the environment may increase due to waste that is produced from human activities like mining, rare-earth extraction, and others. If this waste is not handled properly, thorium may leak and cause water contamination. This review summarises the methods of th...

3-dimensional (3D) nanostructures have gained broad attention in the field of microelectronics and nanotechnology owing to their fascinating properties and potential for novel applications. To enable successful fabrication of the nanostructure, deep understanding on their growth mechanism is an absolute prerequisite. In this study, thin film of hem...

In this study, g-C3N4 was synthesized from urea and then was fabricated into thin films using spin-coating followed by post- annealing in the temperature range of 150 °C–500 °C. Use of methanol rather than water as the solvent for preparation of the spin coating suspension proved to be beneficial. The chemical bond structure, morphology, and optica...

The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K radionuclides from common building materials used by Malaysian people for construction purposes were studied using High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. The measured activity concentrations of the aforementioned radionuclides range from 10 ± 1 Bq kg−1 (limestone) to 155 ± 61 Bq kg−1 (feldspar), 1...

Comprehensive experimental and density functional theory simulations have been performed for the enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of gamma irradiated g-C3N4 and its heterojunction with BiVO4. The structure and morphology of g-C3N4@BiVO4 as a heterojunction were analyzed and verified from the correlation of experimental and theoretical data...

In this study, the activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 222Rn, and 40K, emanation fractions (P), equilibrium equivalent concentration (EEC), and mass exhalation rates (Em) of radon released from building materials used in Malaysia were studied using gamma-ray spectrometer with HPGe detector. Radiological parameters [activity concentration index...

The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K from 102 building materials samples were determined using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The activity concentrations were evaluated for possible radiological hazards to the human health. The excess lifetime cancer risks (ELCR) were also estimated, and the average values were recorded as...

This study investigated the level of natural radioactivity and radiological risks of 40 different ceramic tiles through gamma-ray spectroscopy using a high-purity germanium detector. The calculated activity concentrations were evaluated to determine their potential radiological risks to human health. Furthermore, the activity concentrations were su...

The present study aims to investigate the fluorination of thorium oxide (ThO 2 ) by ammonium hydrogen difluoride (NH 4 HF 2 ). Fluorination was performed at room temperature by mixing ThO 2 and NH 4 HF 2 at different molar ratios, which was then left to react for 20 days. Next, the mixtures were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) at the interva...

Thorium ( ²³² Th) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new important source of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment of neutron to produce uranium-233 ( ²³³ U). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost of thorium oxide (ThO 2 ) resulted from the thori...

This research reports the annual effective dose of dwellers based on the finding of natural radioactivity concentrations in Malaysian tiles. A total of 30 tiles samples obtained from the manufacturer or bought directly from local hardware store. Natural radioactivity was analyzed using gamma spectrometry system for 12 h counting times. The activity...

The activity concentration and radiological risk of commonly used flooring materials (tiles) in Malaysia were studied. The natural radionuclide concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured using high-purity germanium detector. The average concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in the samples were 65.75±1.1 Bq kg−1, 61.92±1.43 Bq kg−1 and 617...

To support the use of nuclear power as a sustainable electric energy generating technology, long-term supply of uranium is very important. The objective of this research is to investigate the use of new adsorbent material for cost effective uranium extraction from seawater. An activated carbon-based adsorbent material is developed and tested throug...

Previous studies have shown that the natural radioactivity contained in building materials have significantly influenced the dose rates in dwelling. Exposure to natural radiation in building has been of concerned since almost 80 % of our daily live are spend indoor. Thus, the aim of the study is to assess the radiological risk associated by natural...

Modern life style requires people to spend most of their time indoors either in a house or in the workplace. Most modern buildings are made from soil based material which may consist of low concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). It is known that one of the daughters of natural uranium is 226Ra which eventually produce ra...

One of the most important aspects of Human Resource and Manpower Development is in Education and Training. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), being the only University in Asia offering an undergraduate programme on Nuclear Science has been singled out in the Malaysia National Nuclear Policy in the Human Capital Development. The policy was used i...

We investigated in this work the two-neutron halo nuclei of 14 Be. The cluster model was used in the present work to study the properties of a three-body system. The three-body system described depended on the Jacobi coordinates using two configurations: the T-configuration and the Y-configuration. In this work, the binding energy, the root-mean-sq...

The two-neutron halo nucleus 11 Li has been investigated in this work. Jacobi coordi-nates is used to describe the three-body system, using two configurations that are the T-configuration and Y-configuration. The calculations have been calculated based on a cluster model. The 11 Li nucleus is considered as three-body system core (9 Li) + n + n. The...

The use of building materials containing high concentration of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) may result in the increase of radiation dose rate inside the building. The assessment of radiological hazard in building materials is necessary due to the concern of radiological impact to its dwellers. Thus, the objectives of this study w...

Besides bricks, granites and sands cement is one of the main components of building materials Cement is made from a combination of rocks and soils which is known to contain natural radioactivity. The objectives of this study were to determine the level of natural radioactivity and associated radiological hazard caused by natural radioactivity in Ma...

The presence of natural radioactivity in materials used in building constructions results in external and internal radiation exposure to the dwellers. Sand is one of the main components in building construction beside cements, granites and bricks. Thus, this research has been carried out in order to investigate the levels of natural radioactivity a...

ABSTRAK Selain daripada batu-batu kecil, batu kerikil dan pasir, simen merupakan salah satu bahan penting untuk membina bangunan. Simen diperbuat daripada campuran batuan dan tanah dan diketahui secara semulajadinya mengandungi radionuklid tabii. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menentukan aras keradioaktifan tabii serta menilai hazard sinaran yang berpu...