Highly efficient removal of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution using the Chitosan- Hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene composite

In this work, a new material containing chitosan(CS)-hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HP) composite was synthesized with polyphosphoric acid as the cross-linking agent for the effective removal of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution. The prepared material was characterized by FTIR, EDS, SEM, BET and XPS. According to batch experiments, its adsorption equilibrium (Q(e) = 398.8 mg g(-1)) was reached within 50 min at pH 6.0. The adsorption process could be well fitted to the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir model. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adsorption was an exothermic and spontaneous process. Furthermore, the CS-HP has superior absorption reusability. This study proved that CS-HP could be considered as the highly efficient and sustainable material for removal of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution.