A novel amidoxime modified polyethylene nanofibrous membrane with high uranium adsorption capacity

The amidoxime modified polyethylene nanofibrous membrane (AO-PENFM) was prepared by a two-step graft polymerization method and an amidoximation reaction. Firstly, the hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) was grafted on polyethylene nanofibrous membrane (PENFM) via pre-radiation induced graft polymerization, then the acrylonitrile (AN) and acrylic acid (AA) were grafted on poly hydroxyethyl acrylate (PHEA) chains by ceric ammonium nitrate(CAN) initiated graft polymerization. Finally, an aminoximation reaction was performed to prepare the novel AO-PENFM adsorbent. This two-step graft method was used to construct a nanostructure adsorption layer with high specific surface areas on the surface of PENFM. The AO-PENFM adsorbent in a uranium solution of 12 ppm after 120 h adsorption performs an excellent adsorption performance of 338.14 mg/g. Simultaneously, the adsorption kinetics conforms to the intraparticle diffusion model and pseudo-second-order model. In addition, the adsorption isotherm data conform to the Langmuir isotherm model.