Phosphate-doped silica gel nanocomposites for effective uranium ion remediation from water

Abstract

An efficient sodium phosphate-doped silica gel nanocomposites (SG-SDP) material was successfully produced and used to collect uranyl ions from an aqueous solution via batch sorption. The nanocomposite was characterized using ATR-FTIR, SEM, XPS, and XRD techniques, and its thermal stability was determined with TGA. The efficiency of SG-SDP to capture uranyl ions was evaluated using a variety of factors, including temperature (T), pH, contact time (t), and initial concentration (C_i). Under particular conditions (pH = 2, C_i = 1.0 mg L⁻¹, T = 55 °C, 80 rpm, and dosage = 2 g L⁻¹), sorption equilibrium is reached in 40 min, resulting in the greatest elimination percentage of 90%. The binding of U(VI) ions conformed to the Langmuir isotherm model (R² > 0.999), and the interaction followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R² > 0.999). These positive results indicate that the SG-SDP nanocomposite material can be used effectively to remove diluted uranium (VI) ions from water.