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A highly efficient pathway to recover gold from acid aqueous solution by using an amidoxime-functionalized UHMWPE fiber

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Abstract

A new amidoxime-functionalized ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibrous adsorbent (UHMWPE-g-PAO) was used for the recovery of Au(III) from acid aqueous solution. The maximum experimental absorption capacity of UHMWPE-g-PAO fiber was found to be approximately 220.0 mg·g−1. Au adsorption on UHMWPE-g-PAO was characterized by synchrotron radiation-based microcomputed tomography (SR-μ-CT), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) and synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (SR-FTIR). The SR-μ-CT and TEM results showed the distribution features of gold particles on the fiber. The mechanism of Au(III) recovery from aqueous solutions by UHMWPE-g-PAO was based on the adsorbed Au(III) ions, which were reduced to metallic zero-valent gold (Au(0)) by amino groups (–NH2) in the amidoxime (AO) groups during the adsorption process, as confirmed by high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and XANES analyses. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that the incineration ashes contained metallic zero-valent gold. In conclusion, this amidoxime-functionalized fibrous adsorbent is a promising material for recovering gold from aqueous solution.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21677116, 91543118, 11775289 and 11275256).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Yu-Lin Liang, Chan Jin, Jiang-Tao Hu, Zhen Liu, Yan Li, Jian-Rong Zeng, Guo-Zhong Wu & Xiang-Jun Wei

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yu-Lin Liang & Zhen Liu

  3. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Yu-Lin Liang & Yan Li

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  1. Yu-Lin Liang
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Correspondence to Chan Jin or Xiang-Jun Wei.

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Liang, YL., Jin, C., Hu, JT. et al. A highly efficient pathway to recover gold from acid aqueous solution by using an amidoxime-functionalized UHMWPE fiber. Rare Met. 38, 1105–1112 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-019-01317-z

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