Iodide ion removal from artificial iodine-containing solution using Ag-Ag2O modified Al2O3 particles prepared by electroless plating

Abstract

A large amount of iodine-containing solution (ICS) is produced in both nuclear medicine and the atomic energy industry, which may cause serious health hazards in case if it enters aquatic ecosystem without sufficient treatment. The treatment of ICS by silver demonstrates great potential for iodine capture and retention. Nano-scale silver and its oxide particles formed on the surface of Al2O3 via electroless plating was introduced to ICS treatment. A series of batch sorption experiments against ICS by Ag-Ag2O modified Al2O3 (Ag-Ag2O-Al2O3) has been conducted. Ag-Ag2O-Al2O3 was characterized by SEM, FTIR, XRD, and XPS before and after the reaction. The results show that ~ 82.6% of I− was removed by 4.0 g/L Ag-Ag2O-Al2O3 from the solution containing 0.3 mg/L I− at pH 3 and at 298 K. Ag-Ag2O-Al2O3 was effective in low concentration artificial nuclear medical ICS treatment. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the reaction consistent with the Langmuir model and was a uniform exothermic reaction of a single layer. Therefore, Ag-Ag2O-Al2O3 prepared by electroless plating could be considered as a potential material for the ICS treatment.