Study on Uranium Adsorption Property of Carbon Nanotubes Prepared by Molten Salt Electrolysis

Molten salt electrochemistry to prepare nano-carbon materials by converting CO2 has attracted much attention. In the present study, carbon nanotubes containing the O element were prepared by converting CO2 in molten salt. The effects of pH, contact time, and reaction temperature on U(VI) adsorption on the adsorbent were studied. The thermodynamic fitting curve and fitting parameters show that uranyl ions were uniformly adsorbed on the surface of carbon nanotubes as a single layer. The adsorption capacity at 298 K was 150.00 mg g–1. The selectivity of uranium adsorbents was studied by ion competition experiments. EDS and XPS demonstrate that uranyl ions are adsorbed by the carbon nanotubes, and (UO2)4O(OH)6 is confirmed in the carbon nanotubes after adsorption in the FT-IR, XRD, and XPS analyses. The materials prepared by the molten salt electrochemical method exhibited good application prospects for uranium adsorption.