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Professor Meiling Feng and her colleagues from Professor Xiaoying Huang’s research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter reported a rigorous layered compound KInSnS4 (InSnS-1) that can accurately detect Cs+ under both neutral and acidic settings. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
InSnS-1 exhibits exceptional acid and irradiation resistance, according to the researchers, preserving its layered network under severely acidic (1–4 mol/L HNO3) and irradiation (200 kGy γ irradiation) settings.
InSnS-1 has quick adsorption kinetics, strong Cs+ ion adsorption capacities in both neutral and acidic (1 mol/L HNO3) conditions, and is easy to desorb and reuse. Under strong acidic conditions (1 and 3 mol/L HNO3), it can achieve effective separation of Cs+/Mn+ (Mn+ = Na+, Sr2+, Ca2+and La3+).
Researchers also discovered that InSnS-1 can be utilized as a stationary phase in an ion-exchange column to treat neutral or acidic wastewater with excessive concentrations of Cs+ ions simply and efficiently.
Meanwhile, using single-crystal structure analysis, the researchers were able to directly view the entry of Cs+ and H3O+ ions, illuminating the underlying process of specific Cs+ collection from acidic solutions at the molecular scale.
The highly complex interactions between soft S2- of sulfide layers and comparatively soft Cs+, as well as the changeable interlayer gap and structural flexibility of InSnS-1 under acidic circumstances, are all promising properties of InSnS-1 for Cs+ capture.
Researchers also discovered that H3O+ plays a significant role in the specific capture of Cs+ ions under acidic conditions and that the shortest K–S distance of K+- directed metal sulfides has a significant impact on ion exchange performance.
This study marks a significant milestone in the study of Cs+ capture in highly acidic circumstances by developing a viable material, and it sheds light on the process of selective Cs+ capture from the perspective of microstructural illumination.
The investigation of selective Cs+ uptake by metal sulfides under intense acidic conditions is groundbreaking, and it could lead to the development of new acid-tolerant sulfide-based ion exchange materials for radiocesium decontamination with real-world applications.
Journal Reference:
Tang, J.-H., et al. (2022) Highly selective cesium(I) capture under acidic conditions by a layered sulfide. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28217-8.