Studies on the crystallographic changes in an analogue of aluminosilicate mineral Muscovite on sorption of UO₂²⁺, Th⁴⁺ & Ru³⁺

Abstract

An analogue of aluminosilicate mica mineral Muscovite has been synthesized hydrotherma lly at 200°C and sorption studies performed for UO₂²⁺, Th⁴⁺ and Ru³⁺ at room temperature in acidic medium (0.1 <i>M</i>)<i>. </i>The X-ray diffractograms and scanning electron micrographs have been used to verify changes in crystallinity and crystal morphology on sorption. The synthesized gel has been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, energy dispersive

spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The chemical composition of the gel is found to be K_1.4 AL_4.2 (Si₆Al₂O₂₀) (OH)₄ 2H₂O. Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) mapping indicates that metal ions are sorbed on the synthesized material by ion-exchange mechanism. Also, the structure of aluminosilicate mineral Muscovite is retained upon UO₂²⁺, Th⁴⁺ and Ru³⁺ sorption implying that surface and end sites are more affected upon sorption while the interlayer positions of the mineral are not

engaged in metal ion sorption.