Emission control of gaseous elemental iodine discharged from nuclear industries is of extreme importance for ecological environment and human health. An obvious barrier hindering the extensive application of activated carbon-based sorbents primarily derives from the absence of active ligands with satisfactory binding towards iodine. To effectively face this challenge, copper sulfide (CuS) with high binding affinity for iodine was introduced and to graft on activated carbon matrix through a simple room-temperature precipitation method under mild conditions. The as-prepared CuS/AC sorbent exhibits favorable textual properties (large specific surface area and developed pore channel) and was enriched with abundance active sites including CuS components and hydroxy functional groups (–OH). Those excellent characteristics contributed to that the iodine uptake capacity of CuS/AC reached to 486 mg g⁻¹. CuS with rich abundance and high accessibility was found to be main ligands accounting for the conversion and immobilization of gaseous iodine. The elemental iodine was reduced into iodine ions and reacted with CuS to form the ultimate adsorbate CuI, effectively avoid the secondary emission of vapor-phase iodine. The whole iodine adsorption process was synergetic controlled by physisorption and chemisorption. The goal of this work not only extends the performance enhancement of the carbon-based sorbents for iodine removal but also inspires further exploitation for the cost-effective and high-performance sorbents for iodine abatement from nuclear industries.

中文翻译：

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金属硫化物功能化活性炭，用于有效捕获气态碘


控制核工业排放的气态元素碘的排放对生态环境和人类健康具有极其重要的意义。阻碍活性炭基吸附剂广泛应用的明显障碍主要来自缺乏对碘具有令人满意结合的活性配体。为了有效应对这一挑战，引入了对碘具有高结合亲和力的硫化铜 （CuS），并在温和条件下通过简单的室温沉淀方法在活性炭基质上接枝。所制备的 CuS/AC 吸附剂表现出良好的文本特性 （大比表面积和发达的孔通道），并富含丰富的活性位点，包括 CuS 组分和羟基官能团 （–OH）。这些优异的特性导致 CuS/AC 的碘摄取能力达到 486 mg ^g-1。发现具有丰富丰度和高可及性的 CuS 是解释气态碘转化和固定化的主要配体。元素碘被还原成碘离子并与 CuS 反应，形成最终吸附物 CuI，有效避免了气相碘的二次发射。整个碘吸附过程由物理吸附和化学吸附协同控制。这项工作的目标不仅扩展了碳基吸附剂用于脱碘的性能增强，而且还激发了进一步开发用于核工业碘减排的成本效益和高性能吸附剂。