Facile fabrication of macroporous carbon materials with Cucurbit[6]uril as precursor/template and its application for uranium removal

The macroporous carbon (MC) materials with different mass ratios of cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) as precursor/template (CB[6]-MC) have been successfully facile fabricated in strong acid medium. Taking advantage of CB [6] as precursor/template, the unique CB[6]-MC materials with the greatly increased pore size have been firstly used in U (VI) removal from aqueous solution in this study. After removal of CB[6] at 450 degrees C, the prepared MC materials with large-size cavitis similar as cucurbituril and residual N atoms on the macroporous carbon not only promote the rapid adsorption of the uranyl ions, but also enhance its adsorption capacity. Significantly, the 25% CB[6]-MC material exhibits extremely high maximum adsorption capacity (343.6 mg/g, 4.70mg/m2) for uranyl ions at pH of 5 in aqueous solution, and its adsorption isotherm data fits well by the Langmuir model. Furthermore, it displays stable adsorption performance for uranyl ions after five cycles of recovery, which will make it a promising material in the practical application of radioactive wastewater.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The macroporous carbon materials with cucurbit[6]uril as precursor/template have been fabricated and show promising adsorption performance and capacity for uranium ions removal, making them potential materials for treating radioactive wastewater.