In situ growth of Prussian blue nanocrystal within Fe3+ crosslinking PAA resin for radiocesium highly efficient and rapid separation from water

• A new cost-effective Prussian blue based nanocomposites (FPPB) were prepared with only stirring at room temperature.
• FPPB has a good sorption capacity of 72.47 mg/g and distribution coefficients touched 1.15 × 105 mL/g.
• The kinetics is fast (>90% removal capacity within only 20 min).
• It can be easily recovered from water with sieve.

A new nanocomposite, called FPPB, was prepared by the in situ synthesis of a Prussian blue (PB) nanocrystal within Fe3+ crosslinking poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) resin for the highly efficient and rapid separation of radiocesium from water. The adsorption of Cs+ by FPPB follows the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model with distribution coefficients touched 1.15 × 105 mL/g and a good adsorption capacity of 72.47 mg/g (pH ≈ 7). FPPB displays high adsorption capacity for Cs+ capture under a wide pH range (4.0–10). The kinetics of Cs+ uptake by FPPB is fast (>90% elimination capacity of relatively low Cs+ concentrations during only 20 min of Cs+/FPPB contact) and fit well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. This should be attributed to the high dispersion of PB nanoparticles. The adsorption Cs+ from complex solutions containing various competitive cations in large excess was also effective. FPPB is a cost-effective sorbent and could be developed by only stirring using environmental friendly and inexpensive materials at room temperature. Furthermore, the FPPB-Cs+ can be easily retrieved from water with sieve. It is expected that the as-prepared FPPB has extensive applicability in the elimination of radiocesium from nuclear wastewater.

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