Construction of amidoxime-functionalized magnetic hydroxyapatite with enhanced uranium extraction performance from aqueous solution and seawater

Yan Wang; Yueyong Jiang; Yong Zhang; Xiaolin Liu; Sen Sun; Shiyi Qin; Jiaqi Huang; Bowei Chen

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140257

Construction of amidoxime-functionalized magnetic hydroxyapatite with enhanced uranium extraction performance from aqueous solution and seawater

Chemosphere. 2023 Dec:343:140257. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140257. Epub 2023 Sep 22.

Authors

Yan Wang¹, Yueyong Jiang², Yong Zhang³, Xiaolin Liu⁴, Sen Sun⁴, Shiyi Qin⁴, Jiaqi Huang⁴, Bowei Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nuclear Waste Disposal Engineering Research Center, School of Mathematics and Physics, Mianyang Teachers' College, Mianyang, 621000, PR China. Electronic address: 100494@mtc.edu.cn.
² Nuclear Waste Disposal Engineering Research Center, School of Mathematics and Physics, Mianyang Teachers' College, Mianyang, 621000, PR China. Electronic address: 8840803@qq.com.
³ State Key Laboratory of Environment-friendly Energy Materials, Sichuan Co-Innovation Center for New Energetic Materials, National Co-innovation Center for Nuclear Waste Disposal and Environmental Safety, Nuclear Waste and Environmental Safety Key Laboratory of Defense, School of National Defence Science & Technology, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, China. Electronic address: yongpandm@swust.edu.cn.
⁴ Nuclear Waste Disposal Engineering Research Center, School of Mathematics and Physics, Mianyang Teachers' College, Mianyang, 621000, PR China.

PMID: 37742767
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140257

Abstract

A novel amidoxime-functionalized magnetic hydroxyapatite (AFNH) was successfuly fabricated to extract uranium from aqueous solution and seawater. The introduction of amidoxime group not only increased the number of active site of AFNH to speed up the adsorption rate and increase the extraction capacity, but also adjusted the optimal extraction pH from 4 to 8, which was beneficial for capturing uranium from seawater. The maximum adsorption capacity and adsorption efficiency at pH 8 were 945.2 mg g^-1 and 99.2%, respectively. AFNH still had good removal efficiency (above 90%) after five cycles, indicating the good regeneration of AFNH. After uranium adsorption, AFNH could be easily recycled by magnetic separation due to its magnetism. In simulated seawater, AFNH also showed excellent uranium removal performance with high adsorption efficiency (84.9%) and adsorption capacity (1.70 mg g^-1). Furthermore, the 14-day uranium extraction capacity of AFNH in natural seawater could reach 5.93 mg g^-1. The SEM, FTIR, XRD and XPS analyses showed that the enhanced uranium extraction performance of AFNH was mainly attributed to electrostatic interaction, complexation and co-precipitation. In conclusion, AFNH was expected to be a candidate as adsorbent with great potential in extracting uranium from seawater.

Keywords: Amidoxime-functionalized magnetic hydroxyapatite; Extraction; Uranium.