Flexible self-supporting Na3MnTi(PO4)3@C fibers for uranium extraction from seawater by electro sorption

Yuliang Chen; Xiangbiao Yin; Ningchao Zheng; Zheyang Lin; Toyohisa Fujita; Shunyan Ning; Yanliang Chen; Xinpeng Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132664

Flexible self-supporting Na₃MnTi(PO₄)₃@C fibers for uranium extraction from seawater by electro sorption

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Jan 5:461:132664. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132664. Epub 2023 Sep 28.

Authors

Yuliang Chen¹, Xiangbiao Yin², Ningchao Zheng³, Zheyang Lin¹, Toyohisa Fujita¹, Shunyan Ning³, Yanliang Chen⁴, Xinpeng Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, 100 Daxue East Road, Nanning 530004, PR China.
² School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, 28 Changsheng West Road, Hengyang 421001, PR China. Electronic address: yinxb@usc.edu.cn.
³ School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, 28 Changsheng West Road, Hengyang 421001, PR China.
⁴ Engineering Research Center of Nuclear Technology Application (East China Institute of Technology), Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330013, PR China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, 100 Daxue East Road, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: wangxinpeng@gxu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37778313
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132664

Abstract

As an eco-friendly technique with the superior adsorption performance, electroadsorption has shown great potential for application in uranium (U(VI)) recovery in recent years. However, the electrodes used in the electrosorption generally suffer the adsorbent to be loaded on the conductors, which greatly limited the adsorption performance of the electrodes for uranyl ions. In present study, a flexible self-supporting Na₃MnTi(PO₄)₃@C fibers (NMTP@C fibers) electrode material was rationally designed and prepared by electrostatic spinning method and annealing technique, and its ability to capture U(VI) efficiently was preliminarily demonstrated by batch adsorption and electro sorption. The plentiful phosphate groups provide sufficient active sites for adsorption, while the axially continuous electron conduction and radially short-range ion transport give NMTP@C fibers fast charge/ion transport capability. The NMTP@C fiber can remove 99% of 5 ppm U(VI) in seawater by electro absorption within 1 h. After several cycles of adsorption under seawater conditions, the adsorbent can still maintain a stable adsorption capacity. The adsorption mechanism of NMTP@C nanofibers for U(VI) was investigated by XPS, FT-IR, Raman, SEM-EDS, and XRD, which was electrostatic interactions and surface complexation. These results suggest that NMTP@C fibers are promising high-capacity adsorbents for efficient and selective capture of U(VI) from seawater.

Keywords: Electro adsorption; NASICON; Seawater; Uranium.