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Photoreduction as an efficient approach for the rapid removal of U(VI) from the aqueous solution

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Abstract

In this work, solar light induced photoreduction of water-soluble U(VI) was realized with metahnol under anaerobic conditions at the optimal pH around 5.00. TEM, XPS, and XRD analyses prove that U(VI) is removed from the aqueous solution by forming insoluble brown uranium precipitates containing uranium dioxide (UO2). The photoreduction approach shows obvious selectivity for the removal of U(VI) and the efficiency (95.47%) is comparable to that of the photocatalytic reduction method (99.35%) while only uranium sediments are formed with the photoreduction approach. Photoreduction offers an efficient approach for the rapid removal of U(VI) from the aqueous solution.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Funds of China (No.12005086) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2020-kb06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontiers Science Center for Rare Isotopes, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Zhenpeng Cui, Duoqiang Pan & Wangsuo Wu

  2. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Zhenpeng Cui, Shuyang Li, Xiaoyan Wei, Jingjing Wang, Yang Xu, Min Zhao, Duoqiang Pan & Wangsuo Wu

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  1. Zhenpeng Cui
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Cui, Z., Li, S., Wei, X. et al. Photoreduction as an efficient approach for the rapid removal of U(VI) from the aqueous solution. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 4159–4168 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08508-6

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