Separation of 64+67Cu(II) from irradiated natural zinc target by sodium alginate-polyacrylic acid/nanohalloysite composite

Abstract

A sodium alginate-polyacrylic acid/nanohalloysite (Alg-PAA/NHA) composite was used to develop a fast and effective method for separating 64+67Cu(II) from a neutron-irradiated natural zinc target. Gamma radiation-induced graft copolymerization was used to prepare the Alg-PAA/NHA composite. Under ideal conditions, the grafting efficiency (GE%) of acrylic acid (AA) on the alginate/nanohalloysite (Alg/NHA) surface reached 99%. To validate the structural morphology and the mechanical properties of the synthesized composite, various analyses including FT-IR, SEM, TGA, and DTA were used. It is worth noting that the Alg-PAA/NHA composite demonstrated selective adsorption of Cu(II) ions over Zn(II) ions at pH 3 with an adsorption efficiency of approximately 86%. Using an acidic solution of 0.1 M HCl, the ionic exchange separation of 64+67Cu(II) from the irradiated Zn(II) target on an the Alg-PAA/NHA composite packed column effectively eluted 64+67Cu(II). For further purification, the eluted 64+67Cu(II) was loaded onto another cationic exchange column packed with Dowex 50 W X8. The radionuclidic, radiochemical, and chemical quality control tests confirmed that the obtained 64+67Cu(II) solution was highly pure and can be safely applied in cancer theranostics Applications.