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Surfactant-assisted adsorption of uranyl ions in aqueous solution on TiO2/polythiophene nanocomposite

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Abstract

In this work, hexadecyltrimethylammonium-bromide (HTAB)-modified polythiophene (PTh)/TiO2 nanocomposite (HTAB/PTh/TiO2) was applied to remove uranyl ions (UO22+). FT-IR, XRD, ζ potential, TGA, SEM, and XPS were utilized to obtain the chemical and physical properties of HTAB/PTh/TiO2. The effects of HTAB content, preparation temperature, and adsorption conditions on UO22+ removal were investigated comprehensively. And the UO22+ adsorption process on HTAB/PTh/TiO2 was fitted to the Sips model with a saturated adsorption capacity of 234.74 mg/g, which was 6 times over TiO2. The results suggested that the surfactant of HTAB can significantly improve the adsorption ability of TiO2 for UO22+ ions. This work provides a strategy of surfactant modification for enhancing the separation and recovery ability of adsorbent toward UO22+ in the radioactive wastewater.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21906017, 21866004, 21866003), the Science and Technology Support Program of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. 2018ACB21007), the Jiangxi Program of Academic and Technical Leaders of Major Disciplines (Grant No. 20182BCB22011), and the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 20202BABL213026, and 20202BABL203016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Youqun Wang, Yinghui Xie, Dejun Zeng, Ying Dai, Zhibin Zhang, Xiaohong Cao, Rong Zou & Yunhai Liu

  2. Engineering Research Center of Nuclear Technology Application, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Youqun Wang, Yinghui Xie, Zhiyang Zheng, Dejun Zeng, Ying Dai, Zhibin Zhang, Xiaohong Cao, Rong Zou & Yunhai Liu

  3. Fundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Youqun Wang, Zhibin Zhang, Xiaohong Cao & Yunhai Liu

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  1. Youqun Wang
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  2. Yinghui Xie
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  3. Zhiyang Zheng
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  4. Dejun Zeng
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  7. Xiaohong Cao
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  8. Rong Zou
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  9. Yunhai Liu
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Contributions

Youqun Wang, Xiaohong Cao, and Yunhai Liu have contributed to the main conceptual idea, study design, and full article writing, respectively. Yinghui Xie, Zhiyang Zheng, and Dejun Zeng have performed the experiments and analyzed the entire data. Ying Dai, Zhibin Zhang, and Rong Zou have conducted the characterization analysis of the adsorbents.

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Wang, Y., Xie, Y., Zheng, Z. et al. Surfactant-assisted adsorption of uranyl ions in aqueous solution on TiO2/polythiophene nanocomposite. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 37182–37194 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12587-5

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