With rapid global population and fossil energy consumption, global warm has become a first environmental challenge to all the nations. Nuclear energy emerges as a clean zero emission energy. However, the most recent Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant accident issues an environmental concern. Here presents two schemes to tackle the radioactive elements, Sr, Co and Cs, polluted water. One is the exploration of functionalized mesoporous modified SBA-15 & MCM-41. Thioglycolic acid, phosphoric acid and polyethylenimine are applied as functional groups –SH, –PO4 and –NH2, respectively. The adsorption capacities of Cs, Sr and Co show that phosphoric acid and thioglycolic acid functionalized mesoporous silicates could be potential choices for remediation. Besides, (3- mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane is another modification source of MCM-41 in the preliminary study and the maximum adsorption capacity of Cs could reach to 21.55mg/g. FTIR and Raman Spectra confirmed that the –SH groups successfully bound to the surface of MCM-41. The other one is the synthesized nanocarbon, of which ferulic acid is the carbon source and SBA-15 is the template. Two methods are compared for the carbonization step: carbonization under N2 atmosphere and potassium persulfate oxidization. In comparison, the first one is better than the latter for each element adsorption. The adsorption capacities of Co and Cs arrived up to 12.14mg/g and 23.87mg/g, respectively. Likewise, FTIR confirmed that carbonyl groups existed on the nanocarbon, which would improve the adsorption efficiency. ZetaSizer is applied to measure the particle size and zeta potential. We will discuss the potential applications of these modified functionalized mesoporous silicas and nanocarbons in remediation of polluted water.

Adsorption of Cs, Sr, and Co by mesoporous materials

249th National Meeting (2015)

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