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Adsorption of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution using phosphonic acid-functionalized silica magnetic microspheres

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Abstract

The phosphonic acid-functionalized silica magnetic microspheres (PA-SMM) were successfully synthesized for U(VI) adsorption. The PA-SMM exhibited higher adsorption capacity for U(VI) compared to unmodified silica magnetic microspheres due to the high affinity of phosphonic acid groups with U(VI). The adsorption was dominated by inner sphere surface chelation and kinetically followed the pseudo-second-order equation. The adsorption isotherms fitted well to the Langmuir model, with the maximum adsorption capacity of 76.9 mg/g at 298 K and pH 5.0. Thermodynamic parameters indicated the endothermic and spontaneous nature of U(VI) adsorption. The PA-SMM could be regenerated using 0.2 M EDTA-0.5 M HNO3 as the eluent.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Fund Program (21366001; 21166001; 11375043) and the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Projects (2015DFR61020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, 418 Guanglan Road, Nanchang, 330013, People’s Republic of China

    Limin Zhou, Hongbin Zou, Yun Wang, Zhirong Liu, Zhiwei Huang & Taian Luo

  2. School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2035, Australia

    Adesoji A. Adesina

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  1. Limin Zhou
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  2. Hongbin Zou
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  3. Yun Wang
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  4. Zhirong Liu
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  5. Zhiwei Huang
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  7. Adesoji A. Adesina
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Correspondence to Limin Zhou.

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Zhou, L., Zou, H., Wang, Y. et al. Adsorption of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution using phosphonic acid-functionalized silica magnetic microspheres. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 310, 1155–1163 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-4878-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-4878-2

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