45 Cesium Uses in Different Industries (Need To Know Facts!)

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Cs or Cesium is the rarest of the naturally occurring alkali metals, ranking fortieth in elemental prevalence. Let us discuss the uses of cesium in different fields.

The uses of cesium are discussed below –

  • Petroleum industry
  • Energy
  • Centrifugation fluids
  • Atomic Clocks
  • Electronics
  • Biotechnology
  • Chemical
  • Nuclear and isotope applications
  • Mechanical Industry

The most important commercial cesium source is pollucite ideally Cs2OAl2O3 4SiO2. The theoretical cesium content of pure pollucite is 45 wt% CsO2; however, natural pollucite usually contains 5–32% CsO because of other minerals intimately associated with the pollucite. In the following article, we discussed the uses of cesium.

Petroleum industry

  1. Cesium is used in formate brines, a high-density, low-viscosity fluid used for high-pressure/temperature oil and gas drilling exploration.
  2. Due to antooxidant property Cesium formate used to maintain well control a protect drilling polymers.
  3. Aqueous solutions of cesium is used as oil well drilling and completion fluids.

Energy

  1. Cs is ideally suited for use in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation.
  2. Cs can be used as the plasma-seeding agent in closed-cycle MHD generators using high-temperature nuclear reactors as the primary heat source.
  3. Hot combustion gases are seeded using cesium oxide or cesium carbonate, potassium carbonate to form a highly conductive plasma.
  4. Cs has been considered a working fluid for high-temperature Rankine-cycle, turboelectric generators.
  5. Cesium has been used as a coating in solar photovoltaic cells.
  6. Cs has been considered a partial replacement of Na or K- hydroxide in alkaline storage batteries, for use at low temperatures.
  7. Ion engines are used in satellites for orientation control by using cesium.

Centrifugation fluids

  1. The high density of the Cs ion makes solutions of cesium chloride, caesium sulfate, and cesium trifluoroacetate (Cs(O2CCF3)).
  2. Cesium is useful in molecular biology for density gradient ultracentrifugation.

Atomic Clocks

  1. Cs metal is used for time standards based on the natural vibration of the atom which oscillates 9,192,631,770 times/s.
  2. Cs-based atomic clocks use the electromagnetic transitions in the hyperfine structure of caesium-133 atoms as a reference point.
  3. Cs are also used as high-precision oscillators to synchronize fiber optic telecommunication.
  4. Cs clocks monitor the cycles of microwave radiation emitted by cesium’s electrodes and use these cycles as a time reference.
  5. With the high accuracy of the atomic clock, the international definition of a second is based on the Cs atom.

Electronics

  1. Cs vapor thermionic generators are low-power devices that convert heat energy to electrical energy.
  2. In the manufacture of vacuum tubes for use in polarized ion sources, vaporized cesium is used as a getter for residual gaseous impurities in the tube.
  3. In the two-electrode vacuum tube converter, cesium neutralizes the space charge near the cathode and enhances the current flow.
  4. Cesium is used as photo emitter to convert photons into free electrons.
  5. cesium is utilized in photoelectric cells for the intermetallic cathodes.
  6. In the photomultiplier tube, cesium is used both in the photocathode and also as a secondary emission material in the dynode.
  7. Cs is used in scintillation counters, which convert energy from ionizing radiation into pulses of visible light.
  8. Cesium is used for the preparation of lenses, prisms, and cuvettes for use in infrared spectrometers, especially in the 500–550 nm range.
  9. Cs-Li containing quaternary compound has been reported for use as a radiation detector.
  10. Cesium is a ferromagnetic substance being applied for potential application in optically read computer memory devices.
  11. Cs has also been used in vapor glow lamps, vapor rectifiers, and high-energy lasers.

Biotechnology

  1. Cs is used to purify viruses, other macromolecules, and nucleic acids, such as RNA and DNA.
  2. Cesium has also been used in thermoluminescent radiation dosimetry.

Chemical

  • In ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy Cs can be used as a scavenger of carbon dioxide purification as an adsorbent of impurities.
  • Cs-doped catalysts are used for the production of styrene monomers from ethyl benzene in a metal oxide medium.
  • From toluene and methanol using cesium-exchanged zeolites; ethylene oxide, methacrolein, methacrylic acid, and methyl methacrylate monomer are prepared.
  • Cs are used as catalysts in low-pressure ammonia synthesis; and in the conversion of SO2 to SO3 in sulfuric acid production.
  • The use of Cs in esterifications of the synthesis of phenacyl esters.
  • In the production of trialkyl phosphates, in polymerizations, and the preparation of organofluorine compounds, such as ring fluorinated aromatics, by halogen exchange, Cs metal is being used.
  • Cesium can be used in intramolecular cyclizations and can be used for the synthesis of insoluble fatty acid esters and polyesters.

Are Calcium Hydroxide and Cesium Used in Similar Industries?

Calcium hydroxide and cesium have distinct uses in different industries. Calcium hydroxide, commonly known as slaked lime, finds applications in wastewater treatment, construction, and food processing. Conversely, cesium is employed in various fields such as atomic clocks, drilling fluids, and the medical industry. Thus, the uses of calcium hydroxide and cesium differ significantly across industries.

Nuclear and isotope applications

  1. Cesium-137 is a radioisotope commonly used as a gamma-emitter in industrial applications.
  2. Cs-137 has been employed in a variety of industrial measurement gauges, including moisture, density, leveling, and thickness gauges.
  3. Cs-137 has been used in hydrologic studies analogous to those with tritium.
  4. Cs-134, and Cs-135, have also been used in hydrology to measure the cesium output by the nuclear power industry.
  5. Cs-133 can be laser cooled and used to probe fundamental and technological problems in quantum physics.

Mechanical Industry

  1. The refractive index of silicate or borosilicate glass can be modified by the addition of Cs.
  2. Cs is used in fluxes formulated for brazing aluminium alloys that contain magnesium.
  3. Surface ion exchange using Cs compound melts or solutions can make glass surfaces resistant to corrosion or breaking.
  4. Cs-Li–borate crystal can be used for frequency conversion of laser light.
  5. Cesium may be useful in the fixation of radioactive waste in a cesium-based glass as well as in fugitive emission cure procedures.
  6. Cs and Rb have been added as a carbonate to glass to improve the stability and durability of fiber optics and night vision devices.
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Uses Of Cesium in Different Fields

Conclusion

Naturally occurring cesium and cesium minerals consist only of the stable isotope. Radioactive cesium isotopes such as 137Cs are generated in fuel rods in nuclear power plants. The number of commercial uses of both cesium metal and its compounds has grown significantly. The principal end use for cesium is in formate brines, a high-density, low-viscosity fluid used for high-pressure/ High-temperature oil and gas drilling exploration