Silver-Loaded Aluminosilicate Aerogels As Iodine Sorbents

Journal Article · Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b10290· OSTI ID:1398211

Riley, Brian J. ^[1]; Kroll, Jared O. ^[1]; Peterson, Jacob A. ^[1]; Matyáš, Josef ^[1]; Olszta, Matthew J. ^[1]; Li, Xiaohong ^[1]; Vienna, John D. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Here, in this paper, aluminosilicate aerogels were used as scaffolds for silver nanoparticles to capture I₂(g). The starting materials for these scaffolds included Na–Al–Si-O and Al–Si–O aerogels, both synthesized from metal alkoxides. The Ag⁰ particles were added by soaking the aerogels in aqueous AgNO₃ solutions followed by drying and Ag⁺ reduction under H₂/Ar to form Ag⁰ crystallites within the aerogel matrix. In some cases, aerogels were thiolated with 3-(mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane as an alternative method for binding Ag⁺. During the Ag⁺-impregnation steps, for the Na–Al–Si-O aerogels, Na was replaced with Ag, and for the Al–Si–O aerogels, Si was replaced with Ag. The Ag-loading of thiolated versus nonthiolated Na–Al–Si–O aerogels was comparable at ~35 atomic %, whereas the Ag-loading in unthiolated Al–Si–O aerogels was significantly lower at ~7 atomic % after identical treatment. Iodine loadings in both thiolated and unthiolated Ag⁰-functionalized Na–Al–Si–O aerogels were >0.5 m_Im_s^–1 (denoting the mass of iodine captured per starting mass of the sorbent) showing almost complete utilization of the Ag through chemisorption to form AgI. Iodine loading in the thiolated and Ag⁰-functionalized Al–Si–O aerogel was 0.31 m_Im_s^–1. The control of Ag uptake over solution residence time and [Ag] demonstrates the ability to customize the Ag-loading in the base sorbent to regulate the loading capacity of iodine.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1398211
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA--126525; 830403000
• Journal Information: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Journal Issue: 38 Vol. 9; ISSN 1944-8244
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Iodine Capture: Iodine immobilization
aerogel
aluminosilicate aerogel
iodine capture