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Radioactive Iodine Capture in Silver-Containing Mordenites through Nanoscale Silver Iodide Formation

2010; American Chemical Society; Volume: 132; Issue: 26 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1021/ja103110y

1943-2984

Karena W. Chapman, Peter J. Chupas, Tina M. Nenoff,

Radioactive element chemistry and processing

The effective capture and storage of radiological iodine (129I) remains a strong concern for safe nuclear waste storage and safe nuclear energy. Silver-containing mordenite (MOR) is a longstanding benchmark for iodine capture; however, the molecular level understanding of this process needed to develop more effective iodine getters has remained elusive. Here we probe the structure and distribution of iodine sorbed by silver-containing MOR using differential pair distribution function analysis. While iodine is distributed between γ-AgI nanoparticles on the zeolite surface and subnanometer α-AgI clusters within the pores for reduced silver MOR, in the case of unreduced silver-exchanged MOR, iodine is exclusively confined to the pores as subnanometer α-AgI. Consequently, unreduced silver-containing zeolites may offer a more secure route for radioactive iodine capture, with the potential to more effectively trap the iodine for long-term storage.