Progress in Application of GO as Radionuclide Adsorbent

The recent research by ASIPP scientists brought a more accurate evaluation of graphene oxide (GO)’s environmental fate, mobility, impact, and risks as a novel radionuclide carrier, which will hopefully promote GO as a potential adsorbent to clear up radioactive nuclear pollution in the environment. 

GO has a broad application prospects in the adsorption and removal of radionuclides. The clear up of radionuclides in aqueous solution by GO ranks the second in Top 10 hot frontier in the field of ecological and environmental science, as indicated in the  report “Research Frontier in 2018” published by Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, National Science Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Clarivate Analytics 

However, it is newly reported that GO has potential toxicity to the microorganisms. In order to ensure the security of GO application in radionuclide clear up, insight into the colloidal behavior of GO in the presence of radionuclides is crucial to determine whether GO as carrier of radionuclides will bring new environmental problems, and to find countermeasures. 

The research team led by CHEN Changlun studied the aggregation behavior, its underlying mechanisms and fate of graphene oxide (GO) in the presence of radioactive elements, using experimental-characterized-theoretical methods. The results show that radionuclides induce the aggregation and precipitation of GO, resulting in that GO carrying radionuclides is much less stable and mobile in natural aquatic environments. 

The related results were published in The Central Journal of American Chemistry Society named Environmental Science & Technology. (REN Xuemei Reports) 

Article link： https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b02234