Highly efficient uranium capture from wastewater by hydroxyapatite aerogels prepared with konjac gum as template

HAP aerogels with higher adsorption speed and capacity were synthesized through a combination of freeze-drying and template way using konjac gum (KGM) as template. Among them, B-HAP (HAP aerogel prepared with 0.25 g KGM as template) showed better micromorphology and structure, leading to more available sites on B-HAP, which was beneficial for the immobilization of uranium. The removal efficiency of uranium by B-HAP was 99.4% within 10 min and the maximum removal capacity was up to 2055.2 mg g−1, which was larger than other reported adsorbents. Pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models were better fitted with the adsorption behavior on HAP aerogels, indicating that uranium ions were immobilized on HAP aerogels via chemical adsorption. B-HAP also showed high selectivity, stability and durability, which was expected to be a feasible candidate for the extraction of uranium from wastewater.