Novel electroblowing synthesis of tin dioxide and composite tin dioxide/silicon dioxide submicron fibers for cobalt(ii) uptake

Johanna Paajanen; Saara Weintraub; Satu Lönnrot; Mikko Heikkilä; Marko Vehkamäki; Marianna Kemell; Timo Hatanpää; Mikko Ritala; Risto Koivula

doi:10.1039/d1ra01559a

Novel electroblowing synthesis of tin dioxide and composite tin dioxide/silicon dioxide submicron fibers for cobalt(ii) uptake

RSC Adv. 2021 Apr 23;11(25):15245-15257. doi: 10.1039/d1ra01559a. eCollection 2021 Apr 21.

Authors

Johanna Paajanen¹, Saara Weintraub¹, Satu Lönnrot¹, Mikko Heikkilä¹, Marko Vehkamäki¹, Marianna Kemell¹, Timo Hatanpää¹, Mikko Ritala¹, Risto Koivula¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki P.O. Box 55 FI-00014 Finland johanna.paajanen@helsinki.fi.

Abstract

Nanoscale SnO₂ has many important properties ranging from sorption of metal ions to gas sensing. Using a novel electroblowing method followed by calcination, we synthesized SnO₂ and composite SnO₂/SiO₂ submicron fibers with a Sn : Si molar ratio of 3 : 1. Different calcination temperatures and heating rates produced fibers with varying structures and morphologies. In all the fibers SnO₂ was detected by XRD indicating the SnO₂/SiO₂ fibers to be composite instead of complete mixtures. We studied the Co²⁺ separation ability of the fibers, since ⁶⁰Co is a problematic contaminant in nuclear power plant wastewaters. Both SnO₂ and SnO₂/SiO₂ fibers had an excellent Co²⁺ uptake with their highest uptake/K _d values being 99.82%/281 000 mL g^-1 and 99.79%/234 000 mL g^-1, respectively. Compared to the bare SnO₂ fibers, the SiO₂ component improved the elasticity and mechanical strength of the composite fibers which is advantageous in dynamic column operation.