Natural porous wood decorated with ZIF-8 for high efficient iodine capture

Effective removal of radioactive iodine from nuclear exhaust has been a concern of researchers. Due to its high surface area and porosity, the metal organic frameworks (MOFs) make good prospects. However, one of the reasons for limiting the widespread use of MOFs materials is that these materials are difficult to recycle and easy to settle to the bottom during the adsorption process. It can affect the adsorption capacity and adsorption kinetic time. There is still a lack of scalable and low-cost adsorption materials for removal of Iodine vapor. Utilizing the dense porous structure and high stability of natural wood (basswood), ZIF-8 can be successfully loaded into wood in a simple way (ZIF-8@wood). The vertical channel structure in the wood can provide a good space for the circulation of gas. This method can increase the adsorption contact area. The experimental data show that the adsorption capacity of ZIF-8@wood in iodine vapor can reach to 1.09 g/g. Compared with ZIF-8, ZIF-8@wood not only improves the adsorption capacity by 27%, but also shortens the adsorption kinetic time by 25%. In addition, it can prevent to settle and aggregate. The low-cost ZIF-8@wood allows for scalable preparation. Currently, ZIF-8 embedded wood is exceedingly promising for practical applications to remove iodine vapors efficiently and economically.

Automated summary

Researchers are exploring effective ways to remove radioactive iodine from nuclear exhaust, and one promising method is to load metal organic frameworks into natural wood to form ZIF-8@wood. This method can increase the adsorption contact area, improve the adsorption capacity, shorten the adsorption time, and prevent settlement and aggregation.