Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Reduction, Sequestration, And/Or Coordination Of Technetium-99 Utilizing Polyoxometalates And Nanomaterials, Colleen Mb Gallagher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research into the sequestration of radionuclides from aqueous media is being conducted due to the contamination of aqueous waste effluents and groundwater with highly toxic long-lived radionuclides. These contaminants are introduced into water and streams from legacy nuclear sites, nuclear reactor operations, nuclear fuel reprocessing, nuclear weapons testing, and plutonium production. A major contributor (~6%) to the waste from thermal neutron fission of uranium-235 is the radionuclide technetium-99 (⁹⁹Tc). It is considered a long-lived radioisotope with a half-life of 2.1x10⁵ years. It is a weak beta emitter with a max energy of 0.29 MeV and is most …

Chelating Ligands And Nanomaterials Based On Graphene Oxide For The Reduction And Sequestration Of Radiometals And Protein Purification, Sam Groveman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nuclear waste remediation and protein purification using immobilized metals can benefit enormously from the design and implementation of novel chelating nanomaterials. Available commercial resins capable of sequestering metals are based on bulk materials such as organic polymers, ceramics, and their composites. The use of two-dimensional nanoplatforms with large surface areas expands the horizon for the research and development of new systems with higher efficiency and lower cost. Fundamental science challenges remain in the synthesis and characterization of these nanomaterials and their integration with known or novel coordinating ligands.

Chemical exfoliation of graphite under strong oxidizing conditions yields graphene oxide (GO) …

Kinetic Study Of The Oxygen Reduction Reaction On Α-Ni(Oh)2 And Α-Ni(Oh)2 Supported On Graphene Oxide, Elaheh Farjami, L. Jay Deiner

Publications and Research

The kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction on α-Ni(OH)2 and α-Ni(OH)2 supported on graphene oxide (α-Ni(OH)2/GO) were investigated using rotating disk linear sweep voltammetry in alkaline solutions of varying oxygen and hydroxyl concentrations. Over the full hydroxyl concentration range (0.05 M to 0.5M), α-Ni(OH)2/GO displayed higher activity than unsupported α-Ni(OH)2. The electron transfer numbers were 2.9 ± 0.2 for α-Ni(OH)2, 3.4 ± 0.1 for α-Ni(OH)2/GO at low [OH−], and 3.8–3.9 for α-Ni(OH)2/GO at high [OH−]. Compared to α-Ni(OH)2, α-Ni(OH)2/GO displayed higher chemical reaction rate constants and higher electron transfer rate constants. These differences suggest that the synergy between the α-Ni(OH)2 …