Issue 5, 2015

Engineered manganese oxide nanocrystals for enhanced uranyl sorption and separation

Abstract

For the first time, this work develops and demonstrates precisely engineered manganese oxide nanoscale particles for the sorption of uranium, as uranyl, in water. Size controlled monodisperse nanocrystalline manganese oxides (12 to 28 nm) were systematically synthesized via thermal decomposition of manganese oleate and phase-transferred into water by ligand exchange and bilayer stabilization methods. Resulting monodisperse suspensions demonstrate significantly enhanced uranyl adsorption as a function of size, surface coating chemistries, and solution pH. In particular, 12 nm particles coated with the unsaturated–unsaturated carbon chains linked bilayers, (e.g. oleic acid-oleyl phosphate linked bilayer coatings) have binding capacities well over 600 mg U per g of Mn, which is the highest reported uranium sorption capacity for any manganese based sorbent to date. Further, we spectrally identify significant uranyl reduction as part of the adsorption mechanism(s) for high capacity materials. Last, oleyl-based (phosphate and carboxylic) functionalized bilayered nanocrystals were extremely stable in the presence of high ionic strength/type (>800 mM); calcium (>19 mM), including the presence of uranyl cations (from 0.1 to 60 ppm). Taken together, these data demonstrate the potential for engineered monodisperse manganese oxide nanocrystals as ultra-high capacity platform sorbent materials for uranium separation at environmentally relevant ionic strengths and pH.

Graphical abstract: Engineered manganese oxide nanocrystals for enhanced uranyl sorption and separation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 جنؤری 2015
Accepted
17 جوٗن 2015
First published
26 اگست 2015

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2015,2, 500-508

Author version available

Engineered manganese oxide nanocrystals for enhanced uranyl sorption and separation

S. S. Lee, W. Li, C. Kim, M. Cho, J. G. Catalano, B. J. Lafferty, P. Decuzzi and J. D. Fortner, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2015, 2, 500 DOI: 10.1039/C5EN00010F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements