Zirconium-titanium-phosphate nanoparticles. Triton X-100 based size modification, characterization and application in radiochemical separation

Zirconium-titanium-phosphate nanoparticles (ZTP) of different sizes were synthesized using tritron X-100 (polyethylene glycol-p-isooctylphenyl ether) surfactant. The materials were characterized by FTIR and powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structural and morphological details of the material were obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SEM study was followed by energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis (EDS) for elemental analysis of the sample. The important peaks of the XRD spectra were analyzed to determine the probable composition of the material. The particle sizes were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) method. Ion exchange capacity was measured for different metal ions with sizes of the ZTP nanoparticles and size-dependent ion exchange property of the material was investigated thoroughly. The nanomaterial of the smallest size of around 5 nm was employed to separate carrier-free 137mBa from 137Cs in column chromatographic technique using 1.0 M HNO3 as eluting agent at pH = 5. (orig.)