Silica-Gel Modified with Zirconium Oxide as a Novel 99Mo Adsorbent in 99mTc Generators

A new 99Mo adsorbent has been prepared with modified silica gel with zirconium oxide (SiO2/ZrO2:Na2MoO4) and used in technetium-99m generator. The adsorption behaviors of 99Mo in the form of molybdate and 99mTc in the form of pertechnetate on the new adsorbent was investigated showed that the adsorption capacity of molybdate on this generator was considerably higher than the usual generator with alumina column. Coating zirconium oxide on the surface of silica gel resulted in higher 99Mo adsorption of this compound. 99mTc is eluted with 0.9% NaCl, and the radionuclidic, radiochemical and chemical purities of the eluate were checked. This generator has a great potential as compared to the traditional alumina generators.