Scalable and economical Bi0-SiO2 for the high efficient capture of iodine gas

Development of scalable, cheap and efficient bismuth-loaded materials to capture iodine gas is still challenging. Herein, we reported a facile route to fabricate the scalable, cheap and efficient elemental bismuth-loaded SiO 2 (Bi 0 -SiO 2 ) using commercial SiO 2 as support materials. The iodine adsorption performance of the obtained Bi 0 -SiO 2 was investigated and compared with that of SiO 2 , Bi 0 powder and Bi 0 mixed SiO 2 . It was found that the capture capacity of Bi 0 -SiO 2 reached a record high of 1019 mg/g within 60 min, which may be attributed to the supply of abundant effective capture sites by the loose Bi 0 nanoballs. Up to 97.7% of iodine was chemically and stably captured, namely BiI 3 formed through the reaction between Bi 0 and I 2 . Furthermore, the obtained Bi 0 -SiO 2 exhibited excellent irradiation stability and the captured iodine showed good thermal stability. Owing to its low cost, scalable, timesaving and efficient, Bi 0 -SiO 2 can be employed as a promising candidate sorbent for the capture of iodine gas.