AgNPs-Containing Metal–Organic Frameworks for the Effective Adsorption and Immobilization of Radioactive Iodine

Among the numerous nuclear wastes, radioactive iodine (I2) has become one of the main pollutants due to its serious adverse effects on the human thyroid gland. Therefore, the design and synthesis of adsorbents for efficient elimination of radioactive I2 from nuclear waste is an attractive target. Herein, we developed a novel silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-loaded metal–organic framework (MOF) of UiO-66, which exhibits excellent I2 adsorption performance due to the synergistic effect between UiO-66 MOFs and AgNPs. The designed AgNPs@UiO-66 adsorbent possesses good porosity and high Ag-loading ability, which assists the adsorbent to achieve a high adsorption I2 capacity of 1260 mg/g. The pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model are considered to be suitable for describing the I2 adsorption behavior over AgNPs@UiO-66. Additionally, some important experimental parameters, such as adsorption time, adsorbent concentration, secondary pollution, and adsorption mechanism, have also been studied in detail. These satisfactory results manifest that AgNPs@UiO-66 is a latent adsorbent for I2 removal in nuclear waste management.