Efficient extraction of uranium in organics-containing wastewater over g-C3N4/GO hybrid nanosheets with type-II band structure

Tao Chen; Jian Zhang; Huilin Ge; Mingxin Li; Yi Li; Bo Liu; Tao Duan; Rong He; Wenkun Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121383

Efficient extraction of uranium in organics-containing wastewater over g-C₃N₄/GO hybrid nanosheets with type-II band structure

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Feb 15:384:121383. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121383. Epub 2019 Oct 4.

Authors

Tao Chen¹, Jian Zhang¹, Huilin Ge¹, Mingxin Li¹, Yi Li¹, Bo Liu¹, Tao Duan¹, Rong He², Wenkun Zhu³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Energy Materials, Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety Key Laboratory of Defense, National Collaborative Innovation Center for Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety, School of National Defence, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Energy Materials, Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety Key Laboratory of Defense, National Collaborative Innovation Center for Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety, School of National Defence, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.. Electronic address: her@swust.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Energy Materials, Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety Key Laboratory of Defense, National Collaborative Innovation Center for Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety, School of National Defence, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.. Electronic address: zhuwenkun@swust.edu.cn.

PMID: 31607580
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121383

Abstract

The presence of organics in radioactive wastewater decreased the extraction efficiency in traditional adsorption treatment of nuclide. Herein, we developed g-C₃N₄/graphene oxide hybrid nanosheets (g-C₃N₄/GO) with the typical type-Ⅱ band structure for the phtodegradation-extraction treatment of hexavalent uranium (U(VI)) in the tannic acid (TA)-containing wastewater. Due to the staggered band structure, the photoelectron transferred from g-C₃N₄ to GO under simulated sunlight. Accordingly, g-C₃N₄/GO hybrid nanosheets exhibited promoted TA degradation and U(VI) extraction compared with the pristine g-C₃N₄ and GO nanosheets. In light condition, the g-C₃N₄/GO hybrid nanosheets degraded 92% of the TA and a 352 mg/g of U(VI) extraction capacity in 40 min. Notably, as an adverse factor for the U(VI) extraction in dark condition, the existence of TA increased the extraction capacity under simulated sunlight, which resulted from the consuming of photoinduced holes and promotion of U(VI) reduction.

Keywords: Extraction; Graphene oxide; Photodegradation; Uranium; g-C(3)N(4).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't