The influence of annealing temperature on properties of TiO 2 based materials as adsorbents of radionuclides

Highlights: • TiO₂ based sorbents were prepared in a fast and low cost way. • The influence of annealing temperature on sorption properties was studied. • A high efficient sorbent for radionuclides was prepared. -- Abstract: Two types of TiO₂ based materials have been prepared from titanium oxysulfate hydrate via precipitation by cold solution of sodium hydroxide and drying at room temperature. The structural changes (especially crystallization into anatase, resp. sodium titanates) during heating up to 1000 °C were studied together with adsorption properties of prepared and annealed materials towards radionuclides ⁸⁵Sr and ¹³⁴Cs. It was found that amorphous and non-annealed materials are able to adsorb higher amount of radionuclides, annealing always leads to decrease of adsorption efficiency. The amount of exchangeable sodium cations was found as the second factor determining adsorption properties of studied titania based materials.