| REEs have unique physicochemical properties that make them essential elements in many high-tech components, such as magnet, electric vehicle, power generator, MRI, screen display, hydride batteries and energy storage. Traditional separation methods like centrifugation and filtration are usually labor-consumptive, uneconomical and environmental pollutant. Magnetic separation nanotechnology developed in our lab is an upcoming technique in the field of REE recycling. Magnetic nanosorbents exhibit special superiority due to convenient separation by an external magnetic field. Advantages of magnetic nanosorbents are low inventory utilization of nanosorbents, enhanced sorption efficiency, high selectivity, and low production of secondary waste. This talk presents the study on our lab-made magnetic nanosorbents – double coated magnetic nanoparticles (dMNP) conjugated with diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and their potential to be used as effective sorbent materials to recycle trivalent lanthanides from aqueous solutions. The REE sorption results show that the magnetic nanosorbents possess a high stability, fast kinetics, and high sorption efficiency in harsh environments. The metal sorption on the dMNP-DTPA nanosorbents is reversible so that the metal-loaded dMNP-DTPA can be effectively regenerated by the dilute acids. The dMNP-DTPA nanosorbents can be reused for more than 15 sorption/desorption cycles, which helps to offset the synthesis cost and makes this technique cost-effective in REE recycling.
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| Dr. Qiang is a tenured full professor of Physics and full professor in the Environmental Science Program at the University of Idaho, US. He is the trustee and the chairman (2012-2014) of Idaho Academy of Science. He received his MS degree 1985 at the Harbin Institute of Technology and Chinese Academy of Space Technology, and Ph.D. degree in 1997 at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He was a research faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1999 to 2002. Dr. Qiang’s research focuses on magnetism and magnetic nanomaterials. He has studied magnetic nanoparticles and nanocomposites for more than 30 years. His expertise includes: synthesis of monodispersive nanoclusters and nanocluster-assembled composites; characterization of magnetic and optical properties as well as transport properties by conductivity, optics, susceptibility and theoretical investigation. He applies magnetic nanomaterials in energy, environmental and biomedical science and nanotechnology. Presently Dr. Qiang’s research interests are a) Nano-nuclear technology and magnetic separation nanotechnology for used nuclear fuel recycling; b) High temperature ferromagnetism and giant magnetoresistance of semiconductor oxide nanomaterials for spintronics; and c) Iron-based magnetic nanoparticles for cancer treatment and environmental remediation. He has published more than 110-refereed papers and 4 book chapters, more than 130 invited talks at US and international conferences, universities and institutions. He is an editor for several magnetic and nano-journals like IEEE Mag. Letters, Nanomaterials… and served on national and international conference organizations and committees, including MRS, CleanTech, NanoTech and IMC. He has organized and chaired many conferences and sessions such as INTERMAG, MMM, TMS, APS and NW-APS meetings.
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