The extraction of uranium using graphene aerogel loading organic solution

Publication date: 1 May 2017
Source:Talanta, Volume 166
Author(s): Mumei Chen, Zheng Li, Jihao Li, Jingye Li, Qingnuan Li, Lan Zhang
A new approach for uranium extraction employing graphene aerogel (GA) as a skeleton loading organic solution (GA-LOS) is proposed and investigated. Firstly, the GA with super-hydrophobicity and high organic solution absorption capacity was fabricated by one-step reduction and self-assembly of graphene oxide with ethylenediamine. By adsorbing Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP)/n-dodecane solution to prepare GA-LOS, the extraction of U(VI) from nitric acid medium using GA-LOS was investigated and compared with conventional solvent extraction. It is found that the GA-LOS method can provide several advantages over conventional solvent extraction and adsorption due to the elimination of aqueous-organic mixing-separation procedures and easy solid-liquid separation. Furthermore, it also possesses higher extraction capacity (the saturated extraction capacity of GA loading TBP for U(VI) was 316.3mgg⁻¹ ) and lower consumption of organic diluents, leading to less organic waste. Moreover, the stability of GA-LOS in aqueous solution and cycling test were also studied, and it shows a remarkable regeneration capability, making it an ideal candidate for metal extraction from aqueous solution.

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