Research Interests:

• Glass corrosion in geologic environments
• Sulfur concrete 

Glass corrosion in geologic environments is of great interest in view of the use of glass to immobilize nuclear wastes and isolate them from the environments for periods of up to hundreds of thousands of years. We are studying the rates and mechanisms of glass corrosion in aqueous environments representative of possible repository locations. We are studying the effects of the composition of the aqueous environments (groundwater) in such locations and of the presence of both man-made and nature materials present in the repository environment.

We are studying methods of prepation, properties, and structure and bonding in sulfur concrete with a view to its development as an environmentally friendly, low-carbon construction material.

Selected Publications

A.L. Pulvirenti, E.J. Bishop, M.A. Adel-Hadadi, A. Barkatt, "Solubilisation of Nickel from Powders at Near-Neutral pH and the Role of Oxide Layers", Corrosion Science, 51, 2043-2054 (2009).

A.L. Pulvirenti, K.M. Needham, M.A. Adel-Hadadi, C.R. Marks, J.A. Gorman, D.L. Shettel and A. Barkatt, "Acid Generation upon Thermal Concentration of Natural Water: The Critical Water Content and the Effects of Ionic Composition", Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 109, 62-81 (2009).

R.M. Catchings, A.N. Thorpe, J.R. Grant, R. Douglas, C. Viragh, K. Gaskell and A. Barkatt, "Formation of Maghemite Nanoparticles in Bismuth Telluride Materials Containing Iron", Journal of Materials Research, 25, 2042-2046 (2010).

J.-C. An, A. Weaver, B. Kim, A. Barkatt, D. Poster, W.N. Vreeland, J. Silverman and M. Al-Sheikhly, "Radiation-Induced Synthesis of Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) Nanogel", Polymer, 52, 5746-5755 (2011)

C. Tissot, S. Grdanovska, A. Barkatt, J. Silverman and M. Al-Sheikhly, "On the Mechanisms of the Radiation-Induced Degradation of Cellulosic Substances", Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 84, 185-190 (2013)

A.L. Pulvirenti, A. Barkatt, M.A. Adel-Hadadi, A.N. Thorpe, F.E. Senftle and J.R. Grant, "Removal of Superparamagnetic Corrosion Products and Contaminants from Drinking Water using Activated Carbon", Desalination and Water Treatment, 52, 3096-3103 (2014)

C. Goodwin, A. Barkatt and M. Al-Sheikhly, "On the Mechanism of the Interactions of Neutrons and Gamma Radiation with Nuclear Graphite - Implications to HTGRs", Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 97, 38-47 (2014)

M. Farahani, M.-C. Clochard, I. Gifford, A. Barkatt and M. Al-Sheikhly, "Differences in Fundamental Reaction Mechanisms between High and Low-LET in Recent Advancements and Applications of Ionizing Radiation", Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 105, 39-47 (2014)

T.C. Dietz, C.E. Tomaszewski, Z. Tsinas, D. Poster, A. Barkatt, M. Adel-Hadadi, F.B. Bateman, L.T. Cumberland, E, Schneider, K. Gaskell, J. LaVerne and M. Al-Sheikhly, "Uranium Removal from Seawater by means of Polyamide 6 Fibers Directly Grafted with Diallyl Oxalate through a Single-Step, Solvent-Free Irradiation Process", Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 55, 4179-4186 (2016)

Barkatt, Aaron, et al. "Solubilization of Cs and K from Tetraphenylborate Precipitates in Highly Alkaline Environments." Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste 22.1 (2017): 04017021.

Pooley, Grace M., Mohammad A. Adel-Hadadi, Weixing Li, Travis C. Dietz, and Aaron Barkatt. "Silane coupling and mordanting as attachment techniques for pyridylazo and thiazolylazo ligands in the synthesis of adsorbents for uranium in seawater." Adsorption Science & Technology (2018): 0263617418755170.

Tissot, Chanel, Aaron Barkatt, and Mohammad A. Adel-Hadadi. Polymers grafted with organic phosphorous compounds for extracting uranium from solutions. United States Patent No. 10,441,940, issued October 15, 2019.  

Chanel Tissot, Grace M. Pulley, Mohammad Adel Hadadi, and Aaron Barkatt. A highly regenerable phosphate-based adsorbent for uranium in seawater: Characterization and performance assessment using 233U tracer. Separation Science and Technology 2022, volume 57, issue no. 3, pp. 388-407.

Aaron Barkatt and Masataka Okutsu.  Obtaining elemental sulfur for Martian sulfur concrete.  Journal of Chemical Research, March-April 2022, 1-17, DOI: 10.1177/17475198221080729