Selective sorption of uranium from aqueous solution by graphene oxide-modified materials

H Mohamud; P Ivanov; B C Russell; P H Regan; N I Ward

doi:10.1007/s10967-018-5741-4

Selective sorption of uranium from aqueous solution by graphene oxide-modified materials

J Radioanal Nucl Chem. 2018;316(2):839-848. doi: 10.1007/s10967-018-5741-4. Epub 2018 Feb 17.

Authors

H Mohamud^{1

2}, P Ivanov², B C Russell², P H Regan^{2

3}, N I Ward¹

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Chemistry, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK.
² 2National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 OLW UK.
³ 3Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK.

Abstract

The effect of competing ions on the sorption behaviour of uranium onto carboxyl-functionalised graphene oxide (COOH-GO) were studied in batch experiments in comparison to graphene oxide (GO) and graphite. The effect of increasing the abundance of select chemical functional groups, such as carboxyl groups, on the selectivity of U sorption was investigated. In the course of the study, COOH-GO demonstrated superior performance as a sorbent material for the selective removal of uranyl ions from aqueous solution with a distribution coefficient of 3.72 ± 0.19 × 10³ mL g^-1 in comparison to 3.97 ± 0.5 × 10² and 2.68 ± 0.2 × 10² mL g^-1 for GO and graphite, respectively.

Keywords: Carboxyl-functionalised graphene oxide; ICP-MS; Selectivity; Sorption; Uranium.