Fabrication and characterization of CeO2-TiO2-Fe2O3 magnetic nanoparticles for rapid removal of uranium ions from industrial waste solutions

Uranium is considered one of the most dangerous heavy metals in the environment due to its chemical toxicity and radioactivity. As uranium contamination threatens both the surface and ground waters, it was important to devote more efforts toward new materials and technologies for separation of uranium from aqueous solutions. In this work, CeO2-TiO2-Fe2O3 was prepared as a novel magnetic nanosorbent for uranium ions removal from waste industrial solutions. The prepared nanohybrid oxide was fabricated by a facile low-temperature co-precipitation method. It was described utilizing Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FE-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, Brauner Emette Teller (BET) surface area, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The adsorptions process was well fitted to the Freundlich and Hasely adsorption isotherm models. The sorption of uranium on CeO2-TiO2-Fe2O3 nanosorbent particles was pH dependent, and the maximum uranium adsorption capacity was found at pH 6. The percentage of uranium removal approached equilibrium with sorption capacity (>= 96) at 0.005 g of nanoadsorbent. The present study suggested that magnetic CeO2-TiO2-Fe2O3 nanosorbent can be used as a potential adsorbent for sorption uranium and also provided a simple fast separation method for removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.