The seventeen rare earth elements (REEs), comprised of yttrium, scandium, and the 15 lanthanides, are a group of chemically similar elements used in the manufacture of a wide array of modern products and their usages is expected to grow dramatically over the next two decades. Due to worsening of supply risks, recovery and reuse of REEs from the end-of-life products have been considered as an accepted strategy to maintain the supply-demand balance. Commonly, the separation of REEs is carried out by solvent extraction. However, this operation is not well suited to removing small concentrations of REEs (as would be found in waste streams), is time consuming, expensive, and can produce toxic and radioactive byproducts. Adsorption has been recently gaining interest as a promising alternative to solvent extraction of REEs. Past research has demonstrated that phosphorous and oxygen-based functionalities have a strong affinity toward REE; molecules containing large numbers of these functionalities, such as DNA, may prove to be an ideal active site in development of a sorbent capable of extracting REEs through adsorption. In order to develop such a novel sorbent, commercially available and amine terminated single-stranded DNA was grafted onto carboxylated mesoporous carbon, which was characterized with conventional techniques. Equilibrium and kinetic studies of the adsorption of neodymium (Nd(III)) on this DNA functionalized carbon was performed, and the adsorbed amounts were measured by ICP-MS. The chemical interactions between the phosphate and oxygen functionalities with Nd (III) were investigated by Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). Lastly, a batch equilibrium study was conducted with a commercially available aqueous solution of 16 REEs to investigate the selectivity of each REE to this sorbent. Finally, similar studies with pristine mesoporous carbon demonstrated that DNA-functionalized carbons adsorb significantly higher amounts of rare earth elements thereby confirming the positive role of DNA in capturing REEs.

Adsorption of rare earth elements (REEs) by DNA functionalized mesoporous carbon

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.