Direct temperature-swing extraction of rare-earth elements from acidic solution using the hydrophobic interactions of poly(-isopropylacrylamide) with diglycolamide-typed ligands

Saga, Kaname*; Suzuki, Hideya; Matsumura, Tatsuro; Tsukahara, Takehiko*

Analytical Sciences, 35(4), p.461 - 464, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.18N023

The phase transition-based gelification phenomenon of poly--isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAm) in aqueous solutions has a great potential in developing new waste-free extraction processes of metal ions. By using hydrophobic diglycolamide-typed ligands in gelification extraction, a one-step complete extraction of all the RE ions from a nitric acid solution was successfully realized.