Construction Of Pickering Emulsion-based Mt@g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄ Microcapsules For The Photocatalytic Adsorption Of Uranium??? In Aqueous Solution

The construction of stimuli-responsive systems for the treatment of environmental contaminants in aqueous mediums has gained due recognition because of its biomimetic characteristics.Different methods for the formulation of these systems have been developed to serve the purposes for which the systems are made.Micro-systems are mostly preferred in environmental remediation especially when the treatment is to be conducted in aqueous mediums due to their ability to withstand hydraulic load without rapture and their stability.The membrane materials determine the stability of micro-reactor systems and hence materials with small particle sizes are mostly preferred.To this end,clay minerals such as montmorillonite,has been applied in several studies for this purposeThe construction of microcapsules to have both biomimetic capability and photo-responsive characteristic is deemed to be of great relevance in remediating the environment.This is because it shields important elements in the environment in the process of remediation due to its selective permeable membrane whilst making use of light energy to accelerate chemical reaction process in the complete mineralization of organic pollutantsIn this study,a stimuli responsive biomimetic microreactor system with magnetic property was constructed using MMT,g-C3N4 and Fe3O4 for the adsorption of U(?)in aqueous medium The optical and chemical characteristics of the microcapsules were investigated UV-vis DRS,Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and Optical Microscope.The optical microscope image revealed that the microcapsules were of varying sizes,which is attributable to the uneven shearing of the handheld homogenizer.The results show that the concentration of g-C3N4 in the microcapsule is key in determining the U(?)removal efficiency as the amount of U(?)adsorbed per unit weight increased from 109.6 mg/g to 153.54 mg/g when the concentration of g-C3N4 in the sample was increased from 4 mg to 32 mg.pH 5 emerged to be the favourable pH condition for the photocatalytic adsorption of U(?)by the microcapsules with an adsorption efficiency of 95.7%.Under the optimum temperature condition(323.15K),the adsorption efficiency was 99%The results highlight the application of MMT/g-C3N4/Fe3O4 composites as candidate material for the uptake of trace U(?)from aqueous solution.