Biological calcium phosphate nanorods for piezocatalytical extraction of U(VI) from water
Feixue Gao, Zhe Wang, Ming Fang, Xiaoli Tan, Shao Hui Xu, Mao Liu, Guang Tao Fei, Li De Zhang
Abstract
The application of nanomaterials in energy and environmental fields has recently made great progress. As a key element in the nuclear industry, the discharge of uranium (U(VI)) contained wastewater usually induces environmental issues and waste of resources. Although the catalytically generated H 2 O 2 by nanomaterials has recently shown application potential in extracting U(VI) from water, low-cost and highly efficient nanocatalysts are still urgently needed. In this work, a cheap and readily available piezocatalyst of calcium phosphate nanorods was successfully fabricated by calcining chicken bones. Under ultrasonication, H 2 O 2 was produced and used to extract U(VI) from water. It is worth noting that the yield of H 2 O 2 reached 179.7 179.7 µmol·g −1 ·h −1 , and the extraction efficiency of U(VI) in water reached 97.16% (100 ppm) within 330 min. Through the capture and quantitative analysis of the active species, it is found that the generation of H 2 O 2 depends on the combination of soluble oxygen and piezoelectrons, which thus dominates the extraction of U(VI). This simple and powerful piezocatalytic strategy greatly reduces the cost of H 2 O 2 production for U(VI) extraction in water, and is of great significance for the treatment of U(VI)-containing wastewater.