Electrochemical deposition of uranium oxide with an electrocatalytically active electrode using double potential step technique

The development of effective uranium-removal techniques is of great significance to the environment and human health.In this work,a double potential step technique(DPST)was applied to remove U(VI)from uranium-containing wastewater using a carbon felt electrode modified by graphene oxide/phytic acid composite(GO-PA@CF).The application of DPST can inhibit water splitting and prevent GO-PA from adsorbing other interfering ions in wastewater.The GO-PA composite can effectively accelerate the electrochemical reduction rate of U(VI),which significantly improved the electrochemical deposition rate of uranium oxide.As a result,the maximum removal efficiency and maximum removal capacity of GOPA@CF electrode reached 98.7%and 1149.3 mg/g,respectively.The removal efficiency remained 97.2%after five cycles of reuse.Moreover,the removal efficiency of GO-PA@CF electrode can reach more than 70%in simulated wastewater.

Controllable magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite particles derived from layered double hydroxide precursors

Cobalt ferrite CoxNi1-xFe2O4 （x = 0, 0.5, 1 ） particles with controllable magnetic properties have been prepared by calcination of co-substituted NiFe^2＋Fe^3＋ -layered double hydroxide （NiFe^2＋Fe^3＋-LDH） precursors prepared via a scalable method involving separate nucleation and aging steps （SNAS）. Their structural and magnetic characteristics were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and vibrating sample magnetometry （VSM）. Measurements of magnetic properties show that the saturation magnetization （Ms） and coercivity （He） of the calcined products increased with increasing cobalt content. The LDH precursor-based product obtained by calcination of a mixture of CoFe^2＋Fe3^＋-LDH and NiFe^2＋Fe^3＋ -LDH powders with a Co/Ni molar ratio of 1：1, exhibits a moderate value of Ms and an increased value of He compared to the corresponding values for an Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 material prepared by calcination of a Co0.5Ni0.5Fe^2＋Fe^3＋-LDH precursor, and a physical mixture of CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4 with a Co/Ni molar ratio of 1 ： 1. These results may provide a way to regulate magnetic anisotropy of ferrite spinels by varying the composition of the LDH precursors.