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. 2023 Nov 11;13(1):19696.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-47075-y.

MXene/AgNW composite material for selective and efficient removal of radioactive cesium and iodine from water

Sajid Mushtaq  1   2 , Syed M Husnain  3 , Syed Asad Raza Kazmi  4 , Yawar Abbas  5 , Jongho Jeon  6 , Jung Young Kim  7 , Faisal Shahzad  8   9
Affiliations

MXene/AgNW composite material for selective and efficient removal of radioactive cesium and iodine from water

Sajid Mushtaq et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Toxic fission products, such as cesium (137Cs) and iodine (129I) are of great concern because of their long half-lives and high solubility in water. The simultaneous removal of Cs and I using a single adsorbent is an area of increasing interest. In this study, MXene/silver nanowire (AgNW) composite was synthesized through physical mixing and employed for simultaneous removal of iodide (I-) and cesium (Cs+) ions from contaminated water. The MXene/AgNW composite demonstrated excellent adsorption capacities of 84.70 and 26.22 mg/g for I- and Cs+, respectively. The experimental data supported the hypothesis of multilayer adsorption of Cs+ owing to the inter-lamellar structures and the presence of heterogeneous adsorption sites in MXene. The interaction between I- and the AgNW involved chemisorption followed by monolayer adsorption. MXene/AgNW composite material exhibited promising results in the presence of competitive ions under extreme pH conditions. Thus, synthesized composite materials holds promising potential as an adsorbent for the remediation of radioactive liquid waste.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
UV–Vis and FTIR spectra of nanomaterials. (A) UV–Vis spectrum of AgNW. (B) FTIR spectra of MXene and MXene/AgNW composite material.
Figure 2
Figure 2
X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra of nanomaterials. (A) XRD spectrum of Ti3C2Tx (MXene). (B) XRD spectra of AgNW and the MXene/AgNW composite material.
Figure 3
Figure 3
High-resolution scanning electron microscopy images of (A) MXene, (B) AgNW, and (C,D) MXene/AgNW composite material.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TEM images of (A) AgNW, (B) MXene, (C,D) MXene/AgNW composite, and (E,F) elemental mapping for MXene/AgNW composite, showing the presence of Ag, and Ti, C, O, and F, respectively.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The removal of Cs+ and I− under (A) the use of various materials (n = 3) and (B) various pH levels using the MXene/AgNW composite (n = 5). (C) The removal efficiency of I− (n = 3) and (D) Cs+ (n = 3) in the presence of competitive ions using the MXene/AgNW composite.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms and adsorption kinetics for the MXene/AgNW. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms for (A) Cs+, and (B) I−. Adsorption kinetics of (C) Cs+, and (D) I−.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Radio-TLC results for the removal of the radioactive iodide ion (131I−) using the MXene/AgNW composite (eluent: 0.9% saline) (A) Radio-TLC of free 131I− (B) Radio-TLC of MXene/AgNW composite after the adsorption of 131I−.
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