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Characteristics and mechanism of uranium photocatalytic removal enhanced by chelating hole scavenger citric acid in a TiO2 suspension system

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Abstract

Polycarboxylic acid acts as hole scavenger and chelating agent, which is essential for the photocatalytic removal of multivalent metal ions. The photocatalytic uranium removal, role of chelating hole scavenger citric acid (CA), and removal mechanism were investigated in a TiO2 suspension system. The results show that chelating agent CA is an efficient hole scavenger. The maximum removal efficiency of U(VI) reaches up to 98.6%. The uranium-bearing precipitates contains Na[(UO2)(Cit)], UO2, or UO4·2H2O. The mechanisms for the photocatalytic removal of U(VI) and the role of CA are discussed. These results suggest that proper chelating hole scavengers can promote and regulate the photocatalytic removal of multivalent metal ions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program: 2014CB846003), National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0502204), National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 41272371, 41502316), and Longshan Academic Talent Research Supporting Program of SWUST (18LZX507).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Life Science and Engineering College, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, People’s Republic of China

    Mingxue Liu, Lang Luo & Hongfu Wei

  2. Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry of Education of China, Mianyang, 621010, People’s Republic of China

    Faqin Dong, Wei Zhang, Wenyuan Hu & Pingping Wang

  3. Fundamental Science on Nuclear Wastes and Environmental Safety Laboratory, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoqin Nie & Congcong Ding

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  1. Mingxue Liu
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Correspondence to Mingxue Liu or Faqin Dong.

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Liu, M., Luo, L., Dong, F. et al. Characteristics and mechanism of uranium photocatalytic removal enhanced by chelating hole scavenger citric acid in a TiO2 suspension system. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 319, 147–158 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6237-y

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