Preparation of a film of copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles for electrochemical removal of cesium from radioactive wastewater

Chen, R.*; Tanaka, Hisashi*; Kawamoto, Toru*; Asai, Miyuki*; Fukushima, Chikako*; Kurihara, Masato*; Watanabe, Masayuki   ; Arisaka, Makoto ; Nankawa, Takuya 

We first synthesized water-dispersed nanoparticle copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) ink and then coated its nanoparticles on electrodes to electrochemically remove cesium from wastewater. Cesium uptake and elution can be controlled by switching the potentials between anodes and cathodes. Effective cesium removal can be adopted in a large pH range from 0.2 to 8.9, and in the presence of several diverse coexisting alkaline cations, suggesting that it can be taken as a promising technology for actual radioactive wastewater treatment. The prepared CuHCF nanoparticles can be simply and uniformly coated on electrodes by wet process like conventional printing methods, so any sizes or patterns are feasible at low cost, which indicated the potential as a promising sorption electrode of large size in the columns for sequential removal and recycle of Cs from wastewater.