Graphene oxide 'removes radionuclides from water'

A collaborative effort by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour and the Moscow lab of chemist Stepan Kalmykov determined that microscopic, atom-thick flakes of graphene oxide bind quickly to natural and human-made radionuclides and condense them into solids. The flakes are soluble in liquids and are easily produced in bulk.

The experimental results were reported in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

The discovery could be a boon in the clean-up of contaminated sites such as the Fukushima nuclear plants damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Tour said. It could also cut the cost of fracking for oil and gas recovery.

Graphene oxide’s large surface area defines its capacity to adsorb toxins, Kalmykov said. ‘So the high retention properties are not surprising to us,’ he explained in a statement. ‘What is astonishing is the very fast kinetics of sorption, which is key.’

Determining how fast was the object of experiments by the Kalmykov group.