English

Selective electrosorption of Cs(Ⅰ) from high-salinity radioactive wastewater using CNT-interspersed potassium zinc ferrocyanide electrodes

• Shuhong Xiang ^{1, 2, †,} ,
• Lv Yang ^{3, †,} ,
• Yingsheng Xu ^{1, 4, ,} ,
• Guoxin Cao ^{3, ,} ,
• Hongjian Zhou ^{1, ,}

• 1.

  Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China

• 2.

  College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, Sichuan Province, China

• 3.

  Midea Corporate Research Center, Midea Group, Foshan 528311, Guangdong Province, China

• 4.

  Hubei Key Laboratory of Pollutant Analysis & Reuse Technology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, Hubei Province, China

Corresponding author: Email: yinsxu@hbnu.edu.cn (Y.X.); Email: guoxin.cao@midea.com (G.C.); Email: hjzhou@issp.ac.cn (H.Z.)

• Received Date: 28 February 2025
  Accepted Date: 21 April 2025
  Revised Date: 19 April 2025
  Available Online: 15 September 2025
• Fund Project:

  the National Key R&D Program of China 

  the National Natural Science Foundation of China 

  the National Natural Science Foundation of China 

  the Key Research and Development Projects of Anhui Province, China 

  Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China 

  the HFIPS Director's Fund, China 

• ^†These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: The management of ¹³⁷Cs-containing radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear accident (FNA) has garnered significant attention due to the challenge of its safe disposal. The presence of co-existing Na⁺ ions severely impedes Cs⁺ removal, exacerbating the costs associated with radioactive wastewater treatment. Recently, capacitive deionization (CDI) technology has demonstrated significant potential in this field. However, its application is limited by the lack of suitable electrode materials that exhibit high Cs⁺ selectivity. In this study, we developed a composite of carbon nanotubes (CNT) interspersed potassium zinc ferrocyanide (KZnFC-CNT), which was pre-activated via an electrochemical method, to serve as a CDI cathode for the selective electrosorption of Cs⁺ ions from saline radioactive wastewater. The KZnFC-CNT electrodes exhibited a maximum electrosorption capacity of 392.75 mg∙g⁻¹, with the highest electrosorption rate of 11.21 mg∙g⁻¹∙min⁻¹. Furthermore, these electrodes exhibited remarkable selectivity, achieving a selectivity factor of 138.2 for Cs⁺ over Na⁺ in a Na⁺ : Cs⁺ molar ratio of 100 : 1. X-ray diffraction, electrochemical analysis, and theoretical simulations revealed that the selective electrosorption of Cs⁺ is primarily governed by the ion exchange process between Cs⁺ and Na⁺ ions, as well as lattice phase transformations in KZnFC. This study presents an effective approach for the treatment of cesium-containing radioactive wastewater with high salinity.

Key words:
• Capacitive deionization
•  /  Selective cesium electrosorption
•  /  Zinc ferrocyanide
•  /  Radioactive wastewater
•  /  Phase transformation

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