Characteristics of novel types of substituted cerium phosphates

The disodium, dilithium, dipotassium and distrontium forms of cerium phosphate were prepared from their corresponding mono-forms. The chemical content of these inorganic ion exchangers have been characterized by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy. The ion exchange properties of these cation exchangers, their chemical stability and selectivity for certain ions were investigated. It was found that, by introducing different salts into the reaction mixture used to prepare cerium phosphate, robust cation exchange materials of reproducible composition with a good cation capacity, and suitable for column use, are produced. All the ion exchangers with the exception of CeP (dipotassium) show excellent selectivity towards certain cations, thereby increasing the potential practical applications of these inorganic exchangers.