Investigating the Chemically Controlled Self-Assembly of Radionuclide-Nanomaterial Hybrids

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Currently, traditional chromatography columns used for the chemical separation and recovery of radionuclides present in environmental samples and radioactive nuclear waste, face many limitations: sample preparation is time-consuming, selectivity is inadequate, and uptake of target radionuclides is often slow in the presence of chemical interferent species, e.g. heavy metals. Thus, given real-world demands for more efficient and selective chemical separation of target radionuclides, there exists a pertinent need to explore new technologies. In recent decades, nanomaterials have been investigated in a vast range of technological applications on account of their highly attractive intrinsic properties. An additional attractive feature of this class of materials is an extremely high surface area to volume ratio, which introduces nanoscale dimensionality and facilitates the coupling of mutually beneficial materials to the nanomaterial surface such as crown ethers to help form enhanced hybrid materials. Hence, it is in this context that nanomaterials may be considered as ideal scaffolds for the separation, adsorption and recovery of long-lived radionuclides. As a result, the aim of this project is to investigate the viability of novel functionalised hybrid nanomaterials consisting of the extractant agent, crown ethers and the carbon nanomaterial, carbon nanotubes or graphene oxide. A programme of research was proposed to design, synthesise and characterise crown ether-functionalised carbon nanomaterials designed with specific radionuclide loading capabilities. Research into existing nanomaterial systems has shown that such materials are ideal for the adsorption and eventual separation of typical radionuclides present in environmental water and nuclear waste samples. Another research application of consideration is in the area of diagnostics whereby the smart nanomaterials are designed further with different functionalities to meet current demands for enhanced dose control and targeted radiotherapies of Radium-223 for the nuclear medicine sector.