Capture of radioactive cesium and iodide Ions from water by using titanate nanofibers and nanotubes
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Date
2011-01-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Abstract
Radioactive Cs+ and I− ions are the products of uranium fission, and can be easily dissolved in water during an accident at a nuclear reactor, such as those that occurred at Chernobyl in 1986, at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, and in 2011 at Fukushima, Japan. In 2009, leaks of radioactive materials such as 137Cs and 131I isotopes also occurred during minor accidents at nuclear power stations in Britain, Germany, and the U.S. These leaks have raised concerns about exposure levels in the nearby communities because it is feared that these fission products could make their way into the food chain when present in waste water. Radioactive iodine is also used in the treatment of thyroid cancer, and, as a result, radioactive wastewater is discharged by a large number of medical research institutions.1 The wide use of radioisotopes requires effective methods to manage radioactive waste, and methods currently used are complex and extremely costly.2 Herein we demonstrate a potentially cost-effective method to remediate 137Cs+ and 131I− ions from contaminated water by using the unique chemistry of titanate nanotubes and nanofibers, which can not only chemisorb these ions but efficiently trap them for safe disposal. © 2011, Wiley-Blackwell.
Description
Keywords
Cesium, Iodine, Nanostructures, Radioactivity, Titanates, Ions
Citation
Yang, D., Sarina, S., Zhu, H., Liu, H., Zheng, Z., Xie, M., Smith, S. V., & Komarneni, S. (2011). Capture of radioactive cesium and iodide Ions from water by using titanate nanofibers and nanotubes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 50 (45), 10594–10598. doi:10.1002/anie.201103286