Alhindawy IG, Mira HI, Youssef AO, Abdelwahab SM, Zaher AA, El-Said WA, Elshehy EA, Abdelkader AM. Cobalt doped titania-carbon nanosheets with induced oxygen vacancies for photocatalytic degradation of uranium complexes in radioactive wastes.
NANOSCALE ADVANCES 2022;
4:5330-5342. [PMID:
36540120 PMCID:
PMC9724698 DOI:
10.1039/d2na00467d]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The photocatalytic degradation of uranium complexes is considered among the most efficient techniques for the efficient removal of uranium ions/complexes from radioactive wastewater. Described here is a nanostructured photocatalyst based on a cobalt-doped TiO2 composite with induced oxygen vacancies (Co@TiO2-C) for the photocatalytic removal of uranium complexes from contaminated water. The synergy between oxygen vacancies and Co-doping produced a material with a 1.7 eV bandgap, while the carbon network facilitates electron movement and hinders the e-h recombination. As a result, the new photocatalyst enables the decomposition of uranium-arsenazo iii complexes (U-ARZ3), followed by photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent uranium to insoluble tetravalent uranium. Combined with the nanosheet structure's high surface area, the photocatalytic decomposition, reduction efficiency, and kinetics were significantly enhanced, achieving almost complete U(vi) removal in less than 20 minutes from solution with a concentration as high as 1000 mL g-1. Moreover, the designed photocatalyst exhibits excellent stability and reusability without decreasing the photocatalytic performance after 5 cycles.
Collapse