ZIF-67@PA membranes based on deep permeation for rapid removal of a radionuclide: Th(iv)

Abstract

The safety and sustainability of the nuclear industry have become the focus of attention; therefore, it is important to develop adsorbents with high selectivity and high adsorption capacity to remove thorium Th(IV) from nuclear waste liquid. In this paper, a new polyamide (PA) composite membrane with zeolitic imidazole skeleton-67 (ZIF-67) nanoparticles was prepared using a deep permeation method. The nanoparticles were synthesized in situ within the PA membrane pores and uniformly distributed within each membrane pore. Characterization analysis and adsorption performance tests were performed to further investigate the performance of the composite membranes for the removal of Th(IV) from the nuclear waste liquid. The prepared ZIF-67@PA novel microporous membrane adsorbent material has a higher adsorption capacity (703.59 mg g⁻¹) and a shorter adsorption equilibrium time (50 min) compared to ZIF-67 material adsorbents for Th(IV) removal. This work is expected to provide an effective strategy for the efficient removal of radioactive thorium ions from wastewater.