Non-contact gaseous microplasma electrode as anode for electrodeposition of metal and metal alloy in molten salt

Microplasma based on glow discharge could act as a non-contact gaseous electrode and has attracted much attention in both fundamental research and application. Herein, with microplasma as the anode,the electrodeposition process of a series of metal and metal alloys in molten salt has been systemically studied. Four metal cations with different valence states, silver(Ag~+), nickel(Ni^(2+)), copper(Cu^(2+)), and iron(Fe^(3+)), could all be reduced on the solid cathode with high current efficiency and the corresponding metal products were of high purity. The electrodeposition of aluminum-lanthanum(Al-Ln) alloy on the aluminum cathode was also successfully carried out with microplasma as the anode, and the same alloy was obtained by using the conventional anode electrode. These results indicated that microplasma anode based on non-contact direct-current(DC) glow discharge is a promising electrode to be applied in molten salt electrolysis.

Carbon dots and polyurethane composite for photo-induced elimination of uranium under air atmosphere

Uranium is the main fuel of nuclear power and elimination uranium from nuclear wastewater is significant both in environmental protection and fuel recycle.Here we report for the first time the synthesis of carbon dots/polyurethane(CDs/PU)composite materials for the photoinduced elimination of uranium from water.Irradiated with visible light,CDs/PU could eliminate uranium efficiently with the generation of(UO_(2))O_(2)·_(2)H_(2)O as solid products in air.The further investigated mechanism showed that the addition of CDs/PU could produce more H_(2)O_(2)under visible light,which reacted with uranyl ions to form(UO_(2))O_(2)·_(2)H_(2)O.Importantly,the sponge-like CDs/PU could be easily removed from water with high reusability as the elimination efficiency remained above 95%after 5 cycles.CDs/PU also displayed good selectivity in the presence of other metal ions.Our work affords exciting strategies for developing photocatalysts and eliminating uranium from water.

Carbon dots and carbon nitride composite for photocatalytic removal of uranium under air atmosphere

Photocatalytic removal of uranium has attracted much attention in nuclear wastewater treatment and it is highly needed to develop functional photocatalyst with excellent removal performance.In this work,seven kinds of carbon dots/carbon nitride(CDs/CN)composites were synthesized and Ser CDs/CN with the best photo-assisted uranium removal performance was screened out.It was found that the introduction of CDs could bring in higher photocurrent density,lower interfacial charge transfer impedance and narrower band gap,resulting in a much-improved removal performance.SerCDs/CN had shown a removal capacity as high as 1690 mg/g and the reaction could be operated under air atmosphere which is promising in real application.