Cesium Removal from Human Blood by Poly(ethylene glycol)-Decorated Prussian Blue Magnetic Nanoparticles

The current oral administration of drugs for cesium (Cs) decorporation treatment are often subject to side effects and low efficiency. Therefore, it is of great significance, yet challenging, to develop novel materials and techniques for efficient removal of Cs from the human body. We report herein a new method for directly removing cesium from blood by poly(ethylene glycol)-decorated Prussian blue magnetic nanoparticles (PEG-PB MNs). The nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by one-pot hydrothermal reaction. The adsorption of cesium in aqueous solution is a highly selective process and kinetically follows a pseudo-second-order model, which can reach equilibrium with a large capacity of 274.7 mg Cs g^-1 within one hour at 298.15 K. PEG-PB MNs were also efficiently regenerated and reused with high adsorption efficiency after five cycles. The nanoparticles successfully removed cesium ions from human blood with improved biocompatibility. The removal efficiency achieved 64 % in the blood with an initial Cs concentration of 168.4 ppb. This study provides a new approach to directly remove cesium ions from the human body by utilizing biocompatible Prussian blue magnetic nanoparticles.