Due to the rapid development of the nuclear power industry, and consequently, the nuclear accident in Fukushima, much attention has been paid to novel materials for the efficient and rapid separation, removal and recovery of nuclear fuel associated radionuclides from aqueous solutions. Herein, a novel mesoporous material, dihydroimidazole functionalized SBA-15 (DIMS), was synthesized via a postgrafting method and used as an efficient sorbent for the extraction of U(VI) from aqueous solution. The synthesized material was found to possess highly ordered mesoporous structures with a large surface area and a uniform pore diameter. The sorption tests under various conditions demonstrated that the sorption of U(VI) by DIMS was fast, with an equilibrium time of less than 10 min. Additionally, the maximum sorption capacity reached 268 mg g À1 at pH 5.0 AE 0.1. Changes in the solid-to-liquid ratio (m sorbent /V solution ) did not have any remarkable effect on the U(VI) sorption. Besides, the sorbed U(VI) can be easily desorbed by 0.01 mol L À1 or more concentrated HNO 3 solution, resulting in a U(VI) solution with a concentration factor of 300 at a solid-liquid ratio as low as 0.013 g L À1 . The reclaimed sorbent can be reused with no obvious decrease in the sorption capacity. The selectivity of the DIMS sorbent for U(VI) ions was found to be fairly desirable by the sorption tests with the solutions containing a range of competing metal ions.
Summary.With the rapid growth of human demands for nuclear energy and in response to the challenges of nuclear energy development, the world's major nuclear countries have started research and development work on advanced nuclear energy systems in which new materials and new technologies are considered to play important roles. Nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, which have gained extensive attention in recent years, have shown a wide range of application potentials in future nuclear energy system. In this review, the basic research progress in nanomaterials and nanotechnologies for advanced nuclear fuel fabrication, spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, nuclear waste disposal and nuclear environmental remediation is selectively highlighted, with the emphasis on Chinese research achievements. In addition, the challenges and opportunities of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies in future advanced nuclear energy system are also discussed.
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