Facile one-pot synthesis of magnetic Prussian blue core/shell nanoparticles for radioactive cesium removal

Magnetic Prussian blue/Fe3O4 core/shell nanoparticles were successfully fabricated via a facile one-pot method. The results of transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) reveal that the as-prepared products are 20–40 nm in diameter and have obvious core/shell structures, which consist of face-centered-cubic lattice Prussian blue and Fe3O4. They can be well dispersed in water and show obvious magnetism, which means they can be rapidly separated by a magnet. The results of adsorption experiments indicate that their maximal adsorption capacities for Cs+ are 145.8 and 132.6 mg g−1, respectively. After magnetic separation, the Cs+ removal efficiency remains at more than 90% when the Cs+ concentration in solution is 50 μg mL−1. The magnetization and Cs+ adsorption properties can be easily adjusted by changing the content of Fe3O4 in nanocomposites. The synthesis strategy and mechanism are also generally discussed. The resulting magnetic Prussian blue nanoparticles can be widely applied to treat radioactive waste water containing cesium ions.