Download Efficient removal of radionuclides from aqueous solutions using

th
6 Asia-Pacific Symposium on Radiochemistry
September 17 ~ 22, 2017 • ICC Jeju • Jeju Island, Korea
Efficient removal of radionuclides from aqueous solutions using carbon nanomaterials
Xiangke Wang1*, Changlun Chen2, Xiangxue Wang1, Jiaxing Li2, Yubing Sun1
1
North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, P.R. China. Email: [email protected]
2
Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, P.R. China
I. Introduction
This page presents the surface modification of carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, graphene oxides)
by plasma techniques and their application for the efficient and selective removal of radionuclides from
aqueous solutions. The interaction mechanism between radionuclides and carbon nanomaterials was studied
by using batch sorption experiments, surface complexation modeling, spectroscopy analysis and
computational theoretical calculations. The results showed that the carbon nanomaterials have high sorption
capacity in the preconcentration of radionuclides from large volume of aqueous solutions, and the surface
grafting functional groups could enhance the selectivity of radionulcides from solutions. The binding energy
of radionuclides with different functional groups was calculated from the DFT calculations, which is helpful
to graft different functional groups on carbon nanomaterial surfaces for their enhanced sorption ability in the
elimination of radionuclides in environmental pollution cleanup.
Fig.1. The sorption of Eu(III) and Am(III) on carbon nanotubes and the calculation of the interaction of Eu(III) and
Am(III) with carbon nanotubes.
Figure 1 shows the interaction of Eu(III) and Am(III)-243 with carbon nanotubes, and the DFT calculation
of Eu(III) and Am(III) with carbon nanotubes under different experimental conditions. One can see that the
1
th
6 Asia-Pacific Symposium on Radiochemistry
September 17 ~ 22, 2017 • ICC Jeju • Jeju Island, Korea
sorption of Eu(III) is stronger than that of Am(III) on carbon nanotubes, which is also evidenced from the
electron density of Eu(III) and Am(III) with CNTs at different experimental conditions.
Figure 2 shows the XANES spectra of U(VI) adsorption on carbon nanomateirals and one can see that
part of U(VI) was reduced to U(IV) at high pH values.
Figure 3 shows the interaction of U(VI) with graphene oxides with different functional groups. From the
DFT calculations, the bind energy of radionuclides with different functional groups are quite different.
II. Conclusions
The carbon nanomaterials have very high sorption ability to radionuclides, and the selectivity of the carbon
nanomaterials is dependent on its surface modification. The surface grafted functional groups are crucial for the selective
adsorption of radionuclides from aqueous solutions. More detailed research should be carried out in near future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91326202, 21225730,
21577032 and 21403064), the Science Challenge Project (JCKY2016212A04), and the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (JB2015001) are acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Sun et al., Environmental Science & Technology. 2015, 49, 4255-4262.
2. Wang et al., Environmental Science & Technology. 2015, 49,11721-11928..
3. Sun et al., Environmental Science & Technology. 2013, 47, 9904-9910.
4. Sun et al., Environmental Science & Technology. 2016, 50, 4459-4467.
1.
2