Electroadsorption of uranium on amidoxime modified graphite felt

Electrode materials have an important influence on the performance of electroadsorption. In this paper, Polyacrylonitrile was introduced to the graphite surface by coating method, then amidoxime reaction was carried out by one-step hydrothermal method. The results of material analysis showed that the nitrile group were transformed to amidoxime group and the electrode had good thermal stability. The electrochemical test results demonstrated that the amidoxime-modified graphite felt electrode displayed a good specific capacitance of 46.5 F·g−1 in 1 M NaCl solution at a scan rate of 5 mV·s−1. The results of batch adsorption experiments showed that the adsorption capacity of uranium could reach 164.75 mg·g−1 at −0.9 V (vs SCE). When sodium carbonate was used as eluent, the elution efficiency was 95% under the influence of reverse voltage (0.9 V). The adsorption capacity could reach 90% of the initial value after 5 times of reuse. The results indicated that the amidoxime-modified graphite felt had a good application prospect for removing uranium from water by electroadsorption method.