Berkelium can be produced by alpha particle bombardment of americium 241 followed by neutron emission to form berkelium 243: Method For The Recovery And Purification Of Berkelium (1959).
Berkelium can be obtained in the trivalent state by solvent-solvent extraction (Separation of trivalent metal values from each other by solvent extraction (1963)), or in the tetravalent state by acid- solvent extraction (Extraction Of Berkelium Values In The Tetravalent State Using 2-Thenoyltrifluoroacetone (1968)).
Berkelium is one of the actinides suggested as an energy source in thermoelectric materials for Seebeck or Peltier devices: Thermoelectric Materials And Devices Prepared Therefrom (1964); this is a catch-all patent application which includes all members of the actinides for the sake of speculative or prophetic completeness.
Some outlandish applications of berkelium are allegedly the homepathic treatments of HIV infection (Composition Based On One Or More Transuranium Elements – And Especially Plutonium – For The Homoeopathic Prevention And Treatment Of HIV Infection (1995)), and of AIDS (Composition Containing Transuranic Elements For Use In The Homeopathic Treatment Of AIDS (1996)).
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All patent information has been obtained from Espacenet (European Patent Office).