In the present work, a systematic study of various decay modes, namely α-decay, β±-decay, electron capture (EC), and spontaneous fission (SF), has been carried out for plutonium (Pu) isotopes in the mass region 212 ≤ A ≤ 260. The α-decay half-lives were evaluated using the modified generalized liquid drop model (MGLDM), while the β-decay and SF half-lives were estimated using well-established semi-empirical formulas. The calculated Q-values for α-decay range from 9.17 MeV to 2.57 MeV, indicating energetically allowed transitions in this region. The results show that α-decay dominates in isotopes 212-230Pu, 236Pu, 238-240Pu, 242Pu, and 244Pu with logarithmic half-lives between −5.91 and 16.59. The β+-decay mode is favored in 231Pu, 233Pu, and 235Pu, whereas EC is dominant in 232Pu, 234Pu, and 237Pu. For heavier isotopes (A ≥ 241), β− -decay becomes the most probable decay mode. The calculated standard deviations are found to be 0.975 for α-decay, 1.117 forβ−-decay, 3.189 for β+ -decay, and 0.908 for EC, indicating good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, about 16 new α emitters and 13 new β− emitters are predicted, which may guide future experimental investigations.
Babu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.