Fabrication and characterization of polystyrene/Fe-MOF composite beads for iodine uptake

• Polystyrene/Fe-MOF composite beads have been prepared. • Polystyrene/Fe-MOF beads were fabricated by the phase inversion method. • Nanocomposites exhibited porous structure. • Polystyrene/Fe-MOF composite showed proper iodine capture capacities. The effective uptake of radioactive contaminants such as radioiodine, radioactive iodine, is considered crucial to reliable and nuclear energy production and nuclear medicine investigations. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-based polymer composites are designed for sorption and separation of various pollutions. In this study, we report Fe(III) MOF-loaded polystyrene (PS) beads, PS/x%Fe-MOF x = 10, 30, 50, fabricated by a two-step method consisting of synthesis Fe-MOF and loading this material into PS matrix by the phase inversion method. The obtained materials were studied by various techniques, including FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared), XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscope), and EDS (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) mapping. Based on the SEM images, the PS/x%Fe-MOF and PS beads have the same morphology. The incorporating of Fe-MOF particles into the PS matrix increases the porosity of the pure PS (10 m 2 g −1 ) to 29 m 2 g −1 for the PS/50 %Fe-MOF. The iodine adsorption studies were conducted using UV–vis spectroscopy. The as-prepared composite beads showed higher iodine adsorption capacities (19–123 mg g −1 ) than the pure PS beads (10 mg g −1 ) at ambient conditions. The kinetics of capturing iodine onto the PS and PS/x%Fe-MOF was defined by the pseudo-second-order (PSO) model. The results confirmed that these PS/30 %Fe-MOF composite has proper potential for iodine adsorption and could be used in a water treatment field.