Poly(amidoamine) dendrimer decorated dendritic fibrous nano-silica for efficient removal of uranium (VI)

Efficient adsorbents for U(VI) removal from aqueous solution is particularly important for energy strategy and environmental safety. Although dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS) with large surface area, good stability and porous structure is attractive, modification of DFNS is an effective strategy to realize the efficient removal of U(VI). Hyper-branched poly(amidoamine)(PAMAM) with abundant amine/amide groups shows great potential in U(VI) adsorption. Herein, PAMAM was grown onto the rigid DFNS to obtain the nanocomposite. The nanocomposite served as a novel adsorbent for U(VI) removal and exhibited fast adsorption kinetics of less than 180 ​min and considerable adsorption capacity of 215.52 ​mg ​g -1 owing to the open gully-like structure and functional groups on the surface of the absorbent. The adsorption mechanism was discovered to be complexation between amine/amide groups and U(VI) ions by EDS and XPS analysis . Furthermore, the adsorbent showed an excellent reusability.