Uranyl peroxo clusters are of potential importance for uranium transport and remediation in aqueous environments because of their controllable size and topology, and because of their significant solubility in water. In this work, extraction of soluble uranyl peroxo clusters in water, such as U60 and U24P, by SBA-15, a solid sorbent made of mesoporous silica, has been studied. SBA-15 shows different extraction properties for U60 and U24P clusters. When the initial uranium concentration increases from 260 ppm to 2200 ppm, the extraction performance of SBA-15 for U60 exhibits a maximum, while the extraction quantity of U24P in SBA-15 keeps increasing. The influence of pH, cluster size, and contact time of sorbent-cluster solutions on the extraction performance of SBA-15 was investigated using SAXS, ESI-MS, Raman, N<sub>2</sub> adsorption-desorption, and TEM. To further improve the extraction efficiency of SBA-15 towards uranyl clusters, 3-triethoxysilyl propylamine was grafted onto the inner surface of SBA-15. The functionalized sorbent shows significant improved extraction properties towards both U60 and U24P.

Extraction behavior of mesoporous silica SBA-15 for soluble uranyl peroxo clusters

249th National Meeting (2015)

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