Isotopes of palladium

Naturally occurring palladium (Pd) is composed of six stable isotopes, 102Pd, 104Pd, 105Pd, 106Pd, 108Pd, and 110Pd, although two of them are theoretically unstable. The most stable radioisotopes are 107Pd with a half-life of 6.5 million years, 103Pd with a half-life of 17 days, and 100Pd with a half-life of 3.63 days. Twenty-three other radioisotopes have been characterized with atomic weights ranging from 90.949 u (91Pd) to 123.937 u (124Pd). Most of these have half-lives that are less than a half an hour except 101Pd (half-life: 8.47 hours), 109Pd (half-life: 13.7 hours), and 112Pd (half-life: 21 hours).

The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 106Pd, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay product before 106Pd is rhodium and the primary product after is silver.

Radiogenic 107Ag is a decay product of 107Pd and was first discovered in the Santa Clara, California meteorite of 1978.[1] The discoverers suggest that the coalescence and differentiation of iron-cored small planets may have occurred 10 million years after a nucleosynthetic event. 107Pd versus Ag correlations observed in bodies, which have clearly been melted since accretion of the solar system, must reflect the presence of short-lived nuclides in the early solar system.[2]

Standard atomic mass: 106.42(1) u

Palladium-103

Palladium-103 is a radioisotope of the element palladium which has uses in radiation therapy for prostate cancer and uveal melanoma. Palladium-103 may be created from palladium-102 or from Rhodium-103 using a Cyclotron. Palladium-103 has a half-life of 16.99[3] days and decays by electron capture to rhodium-103, emitting gamma-rays with 21 keV of energy.

Palladium-107

Long-lived
fission products
Prop:
Unit:
t½
(Ma)
Yield
(%)
Q *
(keV)
βγ
*
99Tc0.2116.1385294β
126Sn0.2300.10844050βγ
79Se0.3270.0447151β
93Zr1.535.457591βγ
135Cs2.3 6.9110269β
107Pd6.5 1.249933β
129I15.7 0.8410194βγ
Hover underlined: more info

Palladium-107 is the second longest lived (halflife of 6.5 million years[3]) and least radioactive (decay energy only 33 KeV, specific activity 5×105 Ci/g) of the 7 long-lived fission products. It undergoes pure beta decay (no gamma radiation) to Ag-107.

Its yield from thermal neutron fission of uranium-235 is 0.1629% per fission, only 1/4 that of iodine-129, and only 1/40 those of Tc-99, Zr-93, and Cs-135. Yield from U-233 is slightly lower, but yield from Pu-239 is much higher, 3.3%. Yields are higher in fast fission or in fission of heavier nuclei.

According to [4] fission palladium contains the isotopes 104Pd (16.9%),105Pd (29.3%), 106Pd (21.3%), 107Pd (17%), 108Pd (11.7%) and 110Pd (3.8%). According to another source, the proportion of 107Pd is 9.2% for palladium from thermal neutron fission of U-235, 11.8% for U-233, and 20.4% for Pu-239. (and the Pu-239 yield of palladium is about 10 times that of U-235.)

Because of this dilution and because 105Pd has 11 times the neutron absorption cross section, 107Pd is not amenable to disposal by nuclear transmutation. However, as a noble metal, palladium is not as mobile in the environment as iodine or technetium.

Table

nuclide
symbol
Z(p) N(n)  
isotopic mass (u)
 
half-life decay
mode(s)[5][n 1]
daughter
isotope(s)[n 2]
nuclear
spin
representative
isotopic
composition
(mole fraction)
range of natural
variation
(mole fraction)
excitation energy
91Pd 46 45 90.94911(61)# 10# ms [>1.5 µs] β+ 91Rh 7/2+#
92Pd 46 46 91.94042(54)# 1.1(3) s [0.7(+4-2) s] β+ 92Rh 0+
93Pd 46 47 92.93591(43)# 1.07(12) s β+ 93Rh (9/2+)
93mPd 0+X keV 9.3(+25-17) s
94Pd 46 48 93.92877(43)# 9.0(5) s β+ 94Rh 0+
94mPd 4884.4(5) keV 530(10) ns (14+)
95Pd 46 49 94.92469(43)# 10# s β+ 95Rh 9/2+#
95mPd 1860(500)# keV 13.3(3) s β+ (94.1%) 95Rh (21/2+)
IT (5%) 95Pd
β+, p (.9%) 94Ru
96Pd 46 50 95.91816(16) 122(2) s β+ 96Rh 0+
96mPd 2530.8(1) keV 1.81(1) µs 8+
97Pd 46 51 96.91648(32) 3.10(9) min β+ 97Rh 5/2+#
98Pd 46 52 97.912721(23) 17.7(3) min β+ 98Rh 0+
99Pd 46 53 98.911768(16) 21.4(2) min β+ 99Rh (5/2)+
100Pd 46 54 99.908506(12) 3.63(9) d EC 100Rh 0+
101Pd 46 55 100.908289(19) 8.47(6) h β+ 101Rh 5/2+
102Pd 46 56 101.905609(3) Observationally Stable[n 3] 0+ 0.0102(1)
103Pd[n 4] 46 57 102.906087(3) 16.991(19) d EC 103Rh 5/2+
103mPd 784.79(10) keV 25(2) ns 11/2-
104Pd 46 58 103.904036(4) Stable[n 5] 0+ 0.1114(8)
105Pd[n 6] 46 59 104.905085(4) Stable[n 5] 5/2+ 0.2233(8)
106Pd[n 6] 46 60 105.903486(4) Stable[n 5] 0+ 0.2733(3)
107Pd[n 7] 46 61 106.905133(4) 6.5(3)×106 a β 107Ag 5/2+
107m1Pd 115.74(12) keV 0.85(10) µs 1/2+
107m2Pd 214.6(3) keV 21.3(5) s IT 107Pd 11/2-
108Pd[n 6] 46 62 107.903892(4) Stable[n 5] 0+ 0.2646(9)
109Pd[n 6] 46 63 108.905950(4) 13.7012(24) h β 109mAg 5/2+
109m1Pd 113.400(10) keV 380(50) ns 1/2+
109m2Pd 188.990(10) keV 4.696(3) min IT 109Pd 11/2-
110Pd[n 6] 46 64 109.905153(12) Observationally Stable[n 8] 0+ 0.1172(9)
111Pd 46 65 110.907671(12) 23.4(2) min β 111mAg 5/2+
111mPd 172.18(8) keV 5.5(1) h IT 111Pd 11/2-
β 111mAg
112Pd 46 66 111.907314(19) 21.03(5) h β 112Ag 0+
113Pd 46 67 112.91015(4) 93(5) s β 113mAg (5/2+)
113mPd 81.1(3) keV 0.3(1) s IT 113Pd (9/2-)
114Pd 46 68 113.910363(25) 2.42(6) min β 114Ag 0+
115Pd 46 69 114.91368(7) 25(2) s β 115mAg (5/2+)#
115mPd 89.18(25) keV 50(3) s β (92%) 115Ag (11/2-)#
IT (8%) 115Pd
116Pd 46 70 115.91416(6) 11.8(4) s β 116Ag 0+
117Pd 46 71 116.91784(6) 4.3(3) s β 117mAg (5/2+)
117mPd 203.2(3) keV 19.1(7) ms IT 117Pd (11/2-)#
118Pd 46 72 117.91898(23) 1.9(1) s β 118Ag 0+
119Pd 46 73 118.92311(32)# 0.92(13) s β 119Ag
120Pd 46 74 119.92469(13) 0.5(1) s β 120Ag 0+
121Pd 46 75 120.92887(54)# 400# ms [>300 ns] β 121Ag
122Pd 46 76 121.93055(43)# 300# ms [>300 ns] β 122Ag 0+
123Pd 46 77 122.93493(64)# 200# ms [>300 ns] β 123Ag
124Pd 46 78 123.93688(54)# 100# ms [>300 ns] 0+
125Pd[6] 46 79
126Pd[7][8] 46 80 0+
126m1Pd 2023 keV 330 ns IT 126Pd 5-
126m2Pd 2110 keV 440 ns IT 126m1Pd 7-
128Pd[7][8] 46 82 0+
128mPd 2151 keV 5.8 µs IT 128Pd 8+
  1. Abbreviations:
    EC: Electron capture
    IT: Isomeric transition
  2. Bold for stable isotopes
  3. Believed to decay by β+β+ to 102Ru
  4. Used in medicine
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Theoretically capable of spontaneous fission
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Fission product
  7. Long-lived fission product
  8. Believed to decay by ββ to 110Cd with a half-life over 6×1017 years

Notes

References

Isotopes of rhodium Isotopes of palladium Isotopes of silver
Table of nuclides