Carbon dots and carbon nitride composite for photocatalytic removal of uranium under air atmosphere

"One-can" strategy for the synthesis of hydrothermal biochar modified with phosphate groups and efficient removal of uranium(VI)

Significant selectivity, reasonable surface modification and increased structural porosity were three key factors to improve the competitiveness of biochar in the adsorption field. In this study, a hydrothermal bamboo-derived biochar modified with phosphate groups (HPBC) was synthesized using "one-can" strategy. BET showed that this method could effectively increase the specific surface area (137.32 m2 g-1) and simulation of wastewater experiments indicated HPBC had an excellent selectivity for U(VI) (70.35%), which was conducive to removal of U(VI) in real and complex environments. The accurate matchings of pseudo-second-order kinetic model, thermodynamic model and Langmuir isotherm showed that at 298 K, pH = 4.0, the adsorption process dominated by chemical complexation and monolayer adsorption was spontaneous, endothermic and disordered. Saturated adsorption capacity of HPBC could reach 781.02 mg g-1 within 2 h. The introduction of phosphoric acid and citric acid by "one-can" method not only provided abundant -PO4 to assist adsorption, but also activated oxygen-containing groups on the surface of the bamboo matrix. Results showed that adsorption mechanism of U(VI) by HPBC included electrostatic action and chemical complexation involving P-O, PO and ample oxygen-containing functional groups. Therefore, HPBC with high phosphorus content, outstanding adsorption performance, excellent regeneration, remarkable selectivity and green value provided a novel solution for the field of radioactive wastewater treatment.

Efficient Combination of Carbon Quantum Dots and BiVO4 for Significantly Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities

The development of highly efficient and stable photocatalysts is of critical importance for the removal of environmental pollutants, such as paraben preservatives. In this work, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were used to modify bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) through a hydrothermal reaction. Regarding the as-formed CQDs/BiVO4 composite, TEM, XPS, and Raman spectra analysis demonstrated the strong interaction between CQDs and BiVO4, possibly leading to the elevated energy level of the composite. As compared to pristine BiVO4, CQDs/BiVO4 showed an increase in light harvesting, and significantly enhanced visible-light activities in degrading the typical paraben pollutant—benzyl paraben (BzP)—where the maximum 85.4% of BzP was degraded in 150 min. After four cycle reactions, the optimum sample 0.6%CQDs/BiVO4 still degraded 78.2% of BzP, indicating the good stability and reusability of the composite. The notably higher photocurrent and smaller arc in Nyquist plot were measured by CQDs/BiVO4, unveiling the improved photocharge separation and lowered interfacial charge transfer resistance by CQDs modification. Meanwhile, due to the promoted energy level, CQDs/BiVO4 practically produced •O2− species and thereby contributed to the BzP degradation, while they had no ability to produce •OH. This was contrary to the BiVO4 system, where •OH and h+ played the dominant roles.

Highly Efficient Removal of Uranium from an Aqueous Solution by a Novel Phosphonic Acid-Functionalized Magnetic Microsphere Adsorbent

The development of adsorption materials which can efficiently isolate and enrich uranium is of great scientific significance to sustainable development and environmental protection. In this work, a novel phosphonic acid-functionalized magnetic microsphere adsorbent Fe₃O₄/P (GMA-MBA)-PO₄ was developed by functionalized Fe₃O₄/P (GMA-MBA) prepared by distill-precipitation polymerization with O-phosphoethanolamine. The adsorption process was endothermic, spontaneous and kinetically followed the pseudo second-order model. The maximum uranium adsorption capacity obtained from the Langmuir model was 333.33 mg g^-1 at 298 K. In addition, the adsorbent also had good acid resistance and superparamagnetic properties, which could be quickly separated by a magnetic field. XPS analysis showed that the adsorption of adsorbent mainly depended on the complexation of phosphonic acid group with uranium. This work offers a promising candidate for the application of magnetic adsorbents in the field of uranium separation and enrichment.