Dual Ion-Imprinted Mesoporous Silica for Selective Adsorption of U(VI) and Cs(I) through Multiple Interactions

Abstract

Separation of uranium and cesium from low-level radioactive effluents (LLRE) is of great significance for sustainable development of the nuclear industry and for the environment. However, high salinity and massive coexisting ions of LLRE are giant challenges for the separation. To address the challenges, we report a strategy for efficient and simultaneous separation of uranium and cesium from a high-salt environment by dual ionimprinted mesoporous silica based on multiple interactions. The as-prepared adsorbents can reach equilibrium for uranium and cesium within 1 h with a maximum capacity of 221.7 mg U g −1 and 34.5 mg Cs g −1 . The sorption mechanism demonstrates that the highly active phenolic hydroxyl groups of imprinted cavities can extract uranium and cesium effectively through multiple interactions, including coulomb attraction, redox, ion exchange, and complexation. The synergism of multiple interactions and imprinted cavity endows the sorbent with good selectivity for uranium and cesium over other cations and with excellent salt tolerance. This work demonstrates a new strategy of selective extraction of nuclides by multifunction adsorbent through multiple interactions.

Determination, Separation and Application of 137Cs: A Review

“…To address the challenges, the ion imprinting technique has been developed as a template strategy to effectively improve the selectivity of materials by which a functional monomer and a crosslinker were polymerized in the presence of a template ion [ 95 , 96 ]. It can create specific cavities containing a ligand for the template ion that possesses the right size and charge [ 97 , 98 ]. More and more ion-imprinted polymers are now available, and the selective adsorption of various nuclides can be achieved by introducing an imprinted cavity for the target nuclide on the surface of ion-imprinted polymers [ 99 ].…”

“…More and more ion-imprinted polymers are now available, and the selective adsorption of various nuclides can be achieved by introducing an imprinted cavity for the target nuclide on the surface of ion-imprinted polymers [ 99 ]. Zhou et al [ 97 ] employed dual ion-imprinted mesoporous silica based on multiple interactions to separate cesium from a high-salt environment. The synergism of multiple interactions and imprinted cavity endows the sorbent with good selectivity for cesium over other cations and with excellent salt tolerance.…”

Ultra-fast 137Cs sequestration via a layered inorganic indium thioantimonate

“…Many treatment methods such as membrane separation, 7 chemical precipitation, 8 solvent extraction, 9 nanofiltration, 10 ultrafiltration, 11 adsorption 12 and ion exchange 13,14 have been utilized to remediate Cs + contaminated wastewater. Of these methods, ion exchange has attracted widespread attention due to its simple and flexible operation, well-established technology, high separation efficiency, and minimum solidified wastes.…”

Highly selective and ultrafast uptake of uranium from seawater by layered double hydroxide co-intercalated with acetamidoxime and carboxylic anions

“…11,12 The AO contains the functional group of [-C(NH 2 )]]N-OH, in which the amino nitrogen, oxime nitrogen and oxime oxygen are electron donors which easily coordinate with UO 2 2+ , and the amphoteric property ensures effective chelation with U(VI). 13,14 Many types of AOfunctionalized materials have been reported, including carbon-based materials, 15,16 silica-based materials, 17,18 polymers, 19 etc. The poly amidoxime functionalized carbon nanotube (PAO@CNT) with abundant AO groups was synthesized, 20 and due to the coordination of O and N of AO groups with UO 2 2+ , a signicantly enhanced U sorption capacity (q U m ) of 247 mg g À1 was exhibited compared with the CNT precursor (q U m ¼ 32.46 mg g À1 ).…”