Facile functionalized of SBA-15 via a biomimetic coating and its application in efficient removal of uranium ions from aqueous solution

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials Vol. 286; pp. 325 - 333
• Main Authors: Gao, Jun-Kai, Hou, Li-An, Zhang, Guang-Hui, Gu, Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 09.04.2015
• Subjects: Adsorption; Biomimetic coating; Biomimetic Materials - chemistry; Dopamine; Dopamine - chemistry; Kinetics; Mesoporous material; Models, Chemical; Molecular Structure; Silicon Dioxide - chemistry; Solutions; Surface Properties; Thermodynamics; Uranium; Uranium - isolation & purification; Water Pollutants, Radioactive - isolation & purification; Water Purification - methods; Mesoporous material; Dopamine; Uranium; Adsorption; Biomimetic coating
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.12.061

[Display omitted] •Dopamine-functionalized SBA-15 (DMS) was developed via a biomimetic coating.•The modification approach was simple, facile and cost-effective.•The DMS was firstly used to remove U(VI) from aqueous solution.•Large adsorption capacity and rapid separation were obtained. A novel dopamine-functionalized mesoporous silica (DMS), synthesized by grafting dopamine onto a mesoporous molecular sieve (SBA-15), was developed as a sorbent to extract U(VI) from aqueous solution. The method used to modify SBA-15 was simple, facile and cost-effective. The DMS was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and BET, showing that the material had an ordered mesoporous structure and a large surface area. The effect of contact time, pH, ionic strength, temperature, and solid–liquid ratio on the sorption process was investigated. It was demonstrated that the adsorption of U(VI) by DMS was fast and that it can be described by the pseudo-second order-equation where the equilibrium time was 20min. Additionally, the adsorption isotherm data were fitted well by the Langmuir model with the maximum adsorption capacity of DMS of 196mg/g at pH 6.0. Furthermore, the influence of the K+ and Na+ concentrations and solid-to-liquid ratio on the sorption was very weak, and the values of the thermodynamic parameters revealed that the sorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. All the results suggested that the DMS could be used as an excellent adsorbent to remove U(VI) from aqueous solution.