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Cesium-137 (Cs-(I)) is highly hazardous in low-level wastewater and is a major problem in low-level nuclear wastewater. Its effective removal from contaminated wastewater is crucial to ensuring environmental safety and public health. In this study, cesium ion-imprinted composite membranes (I-DBC) were developed for selective separation of Cs-(I) using dopamine modification and ion-imprinting techniques. Bacterial cellulose (BC) was used as a carrier in the membrane matrix, and the adsorption capacity of the material was greatly improved after hydrophilic dopamine mimetic bonding and ion blotting techniques. Rapid and highly selective adsorption of cesium ions from low concentration nuclear energy wastewater was realized. The researchers conducted both static and dynamic adsorption experiments on Cs-(I) to evaluate the performance of the I-DBC composite membranes. The results showed that the I-DBC composite membrane was more compatible with the Langmuir model and adsorbed Cs-(I) mainly by chemical monolayer adsorption, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 50.016 mg g–1 under optimal conditions. In low concentration wastewater, the maximum adsorption capacity of the I-DBC was 4.093 mg g–1. Furthermore, during dynamic permeation experiments, the breakthrough point of the I-DBC was approximately 20 min. The membrane demonstrated good flux properties, which underscores its potential for practical application in the treatment of nuclear wastewater. The findings suggest that the I-DBC composite membrane holds promising prospects for the efficient removal of cesium ions from contaminated water, contributing to safer and more effective nuclear wastewater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly serious problem of offshore oil spills, research related to oil–water separation has attracted more and more attention. Here, we prepared a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic membrane (hereinafter referred to as BTA) using poly-dopamine (PDA) to adhesive TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of bacterial cellulose, coated with sodium alienate by vacuum-assisted filtration technique. This demonstrates its excellent underwater super-oleophobic property. Its contact angle is about 153°. Remarkably, BTA has 99% separation efficiency. More importantly, BTA still showed excellent anti-pollution property under ultraviolet light after 20 cycles. BTA has the advantages of low cost, environmentally friendliness and good anti-fouling performance. We believe it can play an important role in dealing with problems related to oily wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vigorous development of rare earth elements has become particularly important for the recycling and reuse of rare earth waste solutions. We use the specific coordination of the phosphate group and La3+ to recover and separate La3+ from secondary resources. First of all, cellulose nanocrystals should be phosphorylated by using phosphoric acid in an aqueous medium. Phosphoric acid groups are introduced to the surface of the cellulose nanocrystal, and then poly-N-isopropylacrylamide is introduced for modification. The purpose is to increase the mechanical properties of the material. The material was characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption analysis, and thermogravimetric and static adsorption experiments. The results of the static adsorption experiments show that the maximum adsorption capacity is 92.28 mg g−1 when the pH is 7.0. After recycling the material five times, the material could still have 87.24% of the maximum adsorption capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel high-efficiency visible-light photocatalyst, silver oxide (Ag2O)-polyimide (PI) photocatalyst is synthesized by a liquid phase reaction method. The obtained samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and photoluminescence (PL). The photocatalytic activity of the Ag2O-PI composites are evaluated by the decomposition of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation. All Ag2O-PI composite possesses higher photocatalytic activity than pure Ag2O and PI. It could be found that RhB was photodegraded with the highest degradation efficiency of 97.9% when the mass ratio of Ag2O and PI reached to 2:1. This enhancement can be attributed to the efficient separation of photogenerated electron and holes. Furthermore, the possible mechanism for the photocatalytic activity of Ag2O-PI composites was also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]