Amazing selectivity for Am(III) uptake by composite graphene oxide-PES polymeric beads prepared by phase inversion

作者：Gujar Rajesh Bhikaji; Mohapatra Prasanta Kumar^*

来源：RSC Advances, 2015, 5(31): 24705-24711.

DOI：10.1039/c4ra14826f

Novel polyethersulphone (PES) based polymeric beads containing graphene oxide (GO), prepared by a phase inversion technique for the first time, were evaluated for actinide ion uptake from acidic feed solutions. The actinide ions studied were Am3+, Pu4+, Th4+, UO22+ while Eu3+ was taken as a representative trivalent lanthanide ion. The feeds used for the uptake studies were unbuffered aqueous pH solutions and the observed trend was: Am3+ similar to Eu3+ >> UO22+ similar to Th4+ > Pu4+. The results were highly encouraging as Am3+ uptake was very high at pH similar to 5 suggesting that the GO beads can be used for the remediation of low acidic radioactive effluents containing Am3+ ions. The metal sorption capacity for Am(III) at pH 4.0 was found to be 1.22 +/- 0.07 mg g(-1) of the GO resin whereas the q(max) (the maximum predicted sorption capacity) obtained from the Langmuir isotherm was 1.72 +/- 0.07 mg g(1) of the GO resin. The sorption isotherm analysis was done by fitting the batch uptake data to the Langmuir, D-R and Freundlisch models. Column studies carried out with the GO-PES beads showed a breakthrough of Am(III) beyond 4 mL. Elution profiles were obtained using 0.1 M HNO3 and about 20 mL was required for quantitative elution.

• 出版日期2015