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Efficient uranium(VI) adsorbing bioinspired nano-sized hydroxyapatite composites: synthesis, tuning, and adsorption mechanism

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Abstract

The production of large amounts of uranium-containing wastewater and its potential hazards has stimulated green and efficient material removal of uranium (VI). Inspired by the natural mineralization of bone, a facile and eco-friendly biomimetic synthesis of nano-hydroxyapatite (HAP) was carried out using chitosan (CS) as a template. It was found that the reaction temperature and the amount of precursors influence the particle size, crystallinity and specific surface area of the CS/HAP nanorods, and consequently their U(VI) adsorption efficiency. Moreover, the synthesized CS/HAP-40 with smaller particle size, lower crystallinity, and larger specific surface area show a more efficient U(VI) removal compared with CS/HAP-55 and CS/HAP-55-AT. It has a maximum adsorption capacity of 294.12 mg·g−1 of the CS/HAP-40. Interestingly, the U(VI) removal mechanism of CS/HAP-40 in acidic (pH = 3) and alkaline (pH = 8) aqueous solutions was found to be different. As one of the main results, the U(VI) adsorption mechanisms at pH 8 could be surface complexation and ion exchange. On the contrary, three different mechanisms could be observed at pH 3: dissolution–precipitation to form chernikovite, surface complexation, and ion exchange.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to EditSprings (https://www.editsprings.com/) for the expert linguistic services provided.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021JJ30563), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M692984), and the Opening Project of Cooperative Innovation Center for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technology and Equipment, University of South China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Research Center of Nano-Geomaterials of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Hongjuan Liu & Huaming Yang

  2. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Hongjuan Liu, Xi Wang, Yongjiang Li, Zefu Min & Hang You

  3. Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Shuibo Xie

  4. Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Shuibo Xie & Yingjiu Liu

  5. Key Laboratory of Functional Geomaterials in China Nonmetallic Minerals Industry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Huaming Yang

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  1. Hongjuan Liu
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Contributions

Hongjuan Liu: methodology, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft. Xi Wang: data curation, investigation. Yongjiang Li: data curation, investigation. Zefu Min: data curation, investigation. Hang You: data curation, investigation. Shuibo Xie: writing—review and editing. Yingjiu Liu: resources, investigation. Huaming Yang: resources, writing—review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Huaming Yang.

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Liu, H., Wang, X., Li, Y. et al. Efficient uranium(VI) adsorbing bioinspired nano-sized hydroxyapatite composites: synthesis, tuning, and adsorption mechanism. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 18156–18167 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23492-w

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