Thermosensitive hydrogel from amidoximated bacterial cellulose for uranium adsorption
摘要
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a unique form of cellulose characterized by its special three-dimensional network, which is advantageous for adsorption. To create an exceptional adsorbent for uranium ions, BC was modified via amidoximation and subsequent UO22+-imprinted polymerization, resulting in a BC-based thermosensitive amidoximated hydrogel named BCOU. BCOU exhibited a reversible phase transition at 34.87 °C during heating and 27.63 °C during cooling, a feature beneficial for adsorption and regeneration. At its optimized adsorption conditions (10 mg BCOU (dry weight) in 80 mL of a 1.0 mg/mL UO22+ solution for 90 min at pH 4.5 and 55 °C), BCOU achieved a UO22+ adsorption capacity of 580.89 ± 2.67 mg/g (n = 3). The adsorption of UO22+ onto BCOU followed both the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model and the quasi-second-order kinetic equation. The adsorption process of BCOU was endothermic and spontaneous. BCOU demonstrated exceptional reusability, maintaining its adsorption capacity at 485.89 mg/g after five cycles of adsorption and desorption, which was 83.65% of its initial capacity. The adsorption selectivity of BCOU was superior to that of its non-imprinted counterpart. The uranium extraction capacity reached 0.393 mg/g after continuous column adsorption from 40 L of natural seawater over 2 days using 0.05 g (dry weight) of BCOU. BC derivatives exhibited significantly better adsorption capabilities than those derived from microcrystalline cellulose, highlighting the advantages of their origin.