A Triazine Membrane for Sustainable Acquisition of Au(III) from Wastewater

Ge Shang; Haonan Dong; Yi Zhang; Conghuan Zhang; Ting Chen; Yunhua He; Hongxing He; Weili Li; Xiujun Deng; Zhifeng Nie; Sibiao Zhao

doi:10.3390/molecules29092051

A Triazine Membrane for Sustainable Acquisition of Au(III) from Wastewater

Molecules. 2024 Apr 29;29(9):2051. doi: 10.3390/molecules29092051.

Authors

Ge Shang¹, Haonan Dong¹, Yi Zhang¹, Conghuan Zhang¹, Ting Chen¹, Yunhua He¹, Hongxing He¹, Weili Li¹, Xiujun Deng¹, Zhifeng Nie¹, Sibiao Zhao²

Affiliations

¹ Yunnan Key Laboratory of Metal-Organic Molecular Materials and Device, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Kunming University, Kunming 650214, China.
² Kunming Institute for Food and Drug Control, Kunming 650034, China.

Abstract

The recovery of Au(III) from solution using adsorbents in the form of granules or powders is challenging due to issues such as instability during the recovery process or mass loss caused by small particle size. This study introduces a PEI-TCT/PVDF composite membrane designed to intercept and capture Au(III) in wastewater. Experimental results demonstrated that the PEI-TCT/PVDF membrane exhibits a broad pH range (1-8) and a high retention efficiency for Au(III) of 97.8%, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 294.5 mg/g. The mechanism of Au(III) adsorption on the PEI-TCT/PVDF membrane was mainly through electrostatic adsorption, which caused AuCl₄^- to aggregate on the surface of the membrane and gradually reduced to Au⁰ and Au⁺. Furthermore, the membrane can be entirely regenerated within 20 min and maintains its performance in subsequent adsorption cycles. This study highlights the potential of PEI-TCT/PVDF membranes for the recovery of precious Au(III).

Keywords: DFT calculations; gold adsorption; phase transition method; selectivity; triazine membrane.

Abstract

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