Fabrication of porous carbon and application of Eu(III) removal from aqueous solutions

Abstract

An efficient and easy-made material for elimination of radioactive pollution from environment is highly desirable while remains challenging. Herein, porous carbon material (PC) was fabricated by hydrothermal carbonization method for radionuclide adsorption. The characterization revealed that PC had a large amount of micropores with an average size of 100–200 nm. The adsorption mechanism of Eu(III) on PC were explored by batch and spectroscopic techniques. Batch experiments showed that Eu(III) adsorption onto PC was independent of ionic strength, indicating the formation of inner-sphere surface complexes. The maximum adsorption capacity of PC calculated from Langmuir model were 28.6 mg·g−1 for Eu(III) at pH 6.0. FT-IR and XPS analysis revealed that the interaction of Eu(III) onto PC was mainly ascribed to the surface complexation and/or electrostatic interaction of Eu(III) and hydroxyl groups. This work indicated that PC can be regarded as a promising adsorbent for rapid and efficient sequestration of Eu(III) from aqueous solution.