Capture of volatile I2 by dithioglycol functionalized HKUST-1 and its polymeric composite beads

Abstract

Successful sequestration of radioactive waste is one of the primary bottle necks of nuclear technologies. The present work describes the effect of dithioglycol functionalization of HKUST-1 on its I2 adsorption performance at 80 °C both in powder and composite bead form. The nature of interaction between I2 and the host matrix has been revealed employing various techniques. There observed a profound enhancement in adsorption kinetics upon functionalization compare to pristine HKUST-1. Composite bead with 60% MOF shows an adsorption capacity of 0.98 g/gbead which is 4.2 times higher than reported PVDF based composite bead of HKUST-1. Unlike HKUST-1, in present studies I2 adsorption takes place through both physic-sorption & chemi-sorption means yielding γ-CuI which acts as secondary adsorbent and converted into I2@CuI through molecular I2 adsorption. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the simple synthesis of γ-CuI homogeneously distributed throughout the polymeric composite bead.