An antibacterial and antifouling amidoxime-functionalized graphene oxide aerogel for selective uranium adsorption in Salt Lake water

Uranium plays an important role in nuclear energy and the abundant amount of uranium could be explored in Salt Lake water. However, the existence of pollutants, microorganisms and coexisting ions make it very challenging to selectively adsorb uranium from Salt Lake. Herein, a graphene oxide-based aerogel (CS-GO-DO/ZnO) adsorbent was prepared by compounding graphene oxide (GO) with amidoximated diaminomaleonitrile (DO), ZnO particles and Chitosan (CS) to selectively adsorb uranium. Batch adsorption experiments revealed that the CS-GO-DO/ZnO aerogel showed high adsorption capacity and good selectivity for uranium and the maximum adsorption capacity can reach 561.09 mg/g in pure uranium solution. Most importantly, the synthesized CS-GO-DO/ZnO aerogel showed excellent antibacterial and antifouling performance, and the adsorption capacity can still reach more than 96 % of the pure solution even in the presence of abundant bacteria and pollutants. Finally, the synthesized material was applied in natural Salt Lake water and it presented superior uranium adsorption capacity (3.67 mg/g). Therefore, the CS-GO-DO/ZnO aerogel can be potentially used as a promising adsorbent for uranium extraction.