Study on adsorption of U(VI) from MOF-derived phosphorylated porous carbons

Synthesizing highly efficient adsorbent materials to remove U(VI) from contaminated water remains a major challenge. Here, using UiO66-NH2 as a sacrificial template, porous carbons (ZrO2@PCs) were prepared by high-temperature calcination, and then a simple strategy was used for phosphorylation modification to prepare the target product ZrO2@PCs-PO4. The microscopic surface morphology and structure of ZrO2@PCs-PO4 characterized by SEM, FT-IR and XRD reveals that phosphate groups has been successful introduced on the surface of [email protected]4. Batch experimentation showed that the phosphorylation process improves the adsorption behaviors, and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for U(VI) is 496.5 ​mg/g. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics were simulated to explore its adsorption mechanism. The excellent selectivity and reusability ensure this material could apply in selective removal of U(VI) ions.