Co-existence of radioactive metals as well as toxic organics (VOCs and BTEX group chemicals) in groundwater at Navajo Nation has ben prevalent.  Many public water supply wells at this area are found to be non-compliant with the MCL of many such contaminants.  A point of use technology involving multifunctional carbonaceous-multimetallic hybrid nanomaterial can serve to simultaneously remove both classes of contaminants. This paper presents development of multifuctional nanohybrids that can be used toward such remedial efforts. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are conjugated with a multi-metallic nano-scale oxide possessing high sorptive abilities for radionuclides.  Dendrimer functionalization was used as the linking mechanism of the two nanomaterials.  The synthesized nanohybrids were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).  Successful removal of strontium by the hybrid has been demonstrated.  The talk will also discuss the critical need for development of small-scale water treatment and contaminant containment technologies for the Navajo Nation community and present potential solutions that are currently being pursued.

Synthesis and characterization of carbonaceous nanomaterial-mutimetallic hybrids for simultaneous removal of radioactive and organic contaminants: A case study on Navajo Nation

247th National Meeting (2014)

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