Tungsten is a candidate plasma facing material for next generation magnetic fusion devices such as ITER and there are major operational and safety issues associated with hydrogen (tritium) retention in plasma facing components. An ion gun was used to simulate plasmamaterial interactions under various conditions in order to study hydrogen retention characteristics of tungsten thus enabling better predictions of hydrogen retention in ITER. Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) was used to measure deuterium retention from ion irradiation while modelling of TDS spectra with the Tritium Migration Analysis Program (TMAP) was used to provide information about the trapping mechanisms involved in deuterium retention in tungsten. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) were used to determine the depth resolved composition of specimens used for irradiation experiments. Carbon and oxygen atoms will be among the most common contaminants within ITER. C and O contamination in polycrystalline tungsten (PCW) specimens even at low levels (~0.1%) was shown to reduce deuterium retention by preventing diffusion of deuterium into the bulk of the specimen. This diffusion barrier was also responsible for the inhibition of blister formation during irradiations at 500 K. These observations may provide possible mitigation techniques for iii problems associated with tritium retention and mechanical damage to plasma facing components caused by hydrogen implantation. Deuterium trapping in PCW and single crystal tungsten (SCW) was studied as a function of ion energy and substrate temperature. Deuterium retention was shown to decrease with decreasing ion energy below 100 eV/D+. Irradiation of tungsten specimens with 10 eV/D+ ions was shown to retain up to an order of magnitude less deuterium than irradiation with 500 eV/D+ ions. Furthermore, the retention mechanism for deuterium was shown to be consistent across the entire energy range studied (10-500 eV) with the shallow penetration depth of low energy ions being the major factor in the reduction in retention. A change in retention mechanism was observed as tungsten temperature during irradiation was increased from 300 to 500 K. Modelling of deuterium retention in 300 and 500 K SCW specimens revealed that two traps, 1.0 and 1.3 eV, are involved in retention for irradiations performed at 300K while a single 2.1 eV trap is present for 500 K irradiations. Experiments suggest that the 2.1 eV trap is created during irradiation of tungsten at 500 K and this process also involves the annihilation of the 1.3 and 1.0 eV traps.

Tungsten is a candidate plasma facing material for next generation magnetic fusion devices such as ITER and there are major operational and safety issues associated with hydrogen (tritium) retention in plasma facing components. An ion gun was used to simulate plasmamaterial interactions under various conditions in order to study hydrogen retention characteristics of tungsten thus enabling better predictions of hydrogen retention in ITER. Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) was used to measure deuterium retention from ion irradiation while modelling of TDS spectra with the Tritium Migration Analysis Program (TMAP) was used to provide information about the trapping mechanisms involved in deuterium retention in tungsten. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) were used to determine the depth resolved composition of specimens used for irradiation experiments. Carbon and oxygen atoms will be among the most common contaminants within ITER. C and O contamination in polycrystalline tungsten (PCW) specimens even at low levels (~0.1%) was shown to reduce deuterium retention by preventing diffusion of deuterium into the bulk of the specimen. This diffusion barrier was also responsible for the inhibition of blister formation during irradiations at 500 K. These observations may provide possible mitigation techniques for iii problems associated with tritium retention and mechanical damage to plasma facing components caused by hydrogen implantation. Deuterium trapping in PCW and single crystal tungsten (SCW) was studied as a function of ion energy and substrate temperature. Deuterium retention was shown to decrease with decreasing ion energy below 100 eV/D+. Irradiation of tungsten specimens with 10 eV/D+ ions was shown to retain up to an order of magnitude less deuterium than irradiation with 500 eV/D+ ions. Furthermore, the retention mechanism for deuterium was shown to be consistent across the entire energy range studied (10-500 eV) with the shallow penetration depth of low energy ions being the major factor in the reduction in retention. A change in retention mechanism was observed as tungsten temperature during irradiation was increased from 300 to 500 K. Modelling of deuterium retention in 300 and 500 K SCW specimens revealed that two traps, 1.0 and 1.3 eV, are involved in retention for irradiations performed at 300K while a single 2.1 eV trap is present for 500 K irradiations. Experiments suggest that the 2.1 eV trap is created during irradiation of tungsten at 500 K and this process also involves the annihilation of the 1.3 and 1.0 eV traps.

L'étude des interactions entre les espèces actives générées par un plasma non thermique et diverses surfaces de matériaux font l'objet de ce travail.Dans un premier temps, des polymères provenant de la biomasse ont été le sujet de nos recherches. Ils représentent une source importante de molécules plateforme telle que le glucose à partir desquelles peuvent être générés des produits de haute valeur ajoutée. Plus précisément, les effets d'un plasma à décharge à barrière diélectrique sur la structure et la dépolymérisation de l'inuline, de la cellulose et de l'amidon ont été étudiés. Une variation des paramètres électriques et chimiques de la décharge plasma a été effectuée et leurs effets sur les biopolymères évalués afin de comprendre les mécanismes de réaction. Nos résultats ont montré qu'un traitement initial par le plasma permettait d'augmenter considérablement le rendement final en sucre monomère (fructose ou glucose) par rapport au même produit de départ non traité par le plasma (84 et 54% de glucose à partir réciproquement de l'amidon et de la cellulose traités par plasma, au lieu de 65 et 1 % pour les mêmes produits non traités). Cet effet pourrait être du en partie à une dépolymérisation par attaque acide induite au sein du plasma sur les zones amorphes des biopolymères.Dans un second temps, l'étude a porté sur l'élimination des COV par couplage plasma non-thermique et catalyseur. Pour cette étude, nous avons conçu et mis en oeuvre un appareillage original formé par un réacteur plasma-catalyseur permettant une analyse sous atmosphère contrôlée de la surface du catalyseur par spectroscopie IR (DRIFT). Cet appareillage a permis d'étudier la décomposition de quatre COV (isopropanol, acétone, éthanol et toluène) adsorbé sur différents oxydes métalliques (g-Al2O3, CeO2 et TiO2) placés dans la zone de décharge en temps réel (in-situ). Les premiers résultats ont permis d'élucider certaines voies de décomposition de ces différents COV. / The interactions between the active species generated by a non thermal plasma and various material surfaces have been studied in this work. In a first part, biopolymers coming from biomass have been the subject of our investigations as they offer a great reservoir for a platform molecule, glucose, from which valuable chemicals can be generated. More specifically, the effects of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma on the structure and depolymerization of inulin, cellulose and starch were evaluated. For that purpose, the electrical and chemical characteristics of the plasma discharge were varied and their effects on the biopolymers evaluated in order to understand the reaction mechanisms. Our results showed that a plasma pre-treatment increased considerably the final monomer yield (in glucose and fructose) compared to the untreated starting material (84 and 54 % yield in glucose from plasma treated starch and cellulose, instead of 65 and 1 % for the same untreated samples). This effect could be partly explained by the depolymerization of the amorphous areas of the polymers by and acid attack within the plasma discharge.In a second part, the study focused on the removal of VOCs by coupling non-thermal plasma and inorganic materials. For this purpose, we designed and implemented an innovative apparatus. It consists of a plasma-catalyst reactor with controlled atmosphere that allows the analysis of the catalyst surface by IR spectroscopy (DRIFT). The decomposition of four VOCs (isopropanol, acetone, ethanol and toluene) adsorbed on different metallic oxides (y-Al2O3, CeO2 and TiO2) placed within the discharge area have been studied in situ using this method. The first results have enlightened the decomposition pathways of the different VOCs.