Defect-engineering induced charge transfer enhanced reactivity of ultralight boron nitride aerogel for iodine...

Effective removal of radioactive iodine is crucial for radioactive waste management and nuclear safety. However, due to their low adsorption capacity and poor stability, conventional adsorbents struggle to efficiently remove iodine under harsh conditions, posing a risk of radioactive waste leakage. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel adsorbent with stronger stability and higher adsorption performance to replace traditional industrial adsorbents, thereby protecting the environment and human health from the threat of radioactive iodine. ‌In this work, a series of defect-engineered boron nitride aerogels adsorbents were fabricated by employing a scalable and convenient defect engineering strategies to address the challenge of efficient iodine removal, N vacancies and B vacancies were introduced through gamma-ray irradiation and the introduction of vacancy directing agent, respectively. Defect-engineering increased adsorption sites and improved affinity of aerogels for iodine by enhancing charge transfer while preserving high specific surface area and strong stability. ‌Consequently‌, defect-engineered aerogels exhibited excellent iodine adsorption performance for iodine under different environments, achieving ‌record adsorption capacities‌ of up to 5.12 g g^-1 for iodine vapor and 1000 mg g^-1 for iodine in solution. ‌Simultaneously‌, defect-engineered aerogels maintained outstanding adsorption performance for iodine ‌under harsh environment such as high-temperature and acidic conditions‌. This work not only provides a ‌potential adsorbent material‌ for radioactive iodine removal but also offers an ‌effective and low-cost strategy‌ for the efficient modification of boron nitride-based materials.