Simultaneous adsorption and reduction of U(VI) on reduced graphene oxide-supported nanoscale zerovalent iron

•Sorption and in-situ reduction of U(VI) is observed.•The composites are more effective for U(VI) removal and solidification.•The inner-sphere surface complexes are observed. The reduced graphene oxide-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI/rGO) composites were synthesized by chemical deposition method and were characterized by SEM, high resolution TEM, Raman and potentiometric acid-base titrations. The characteristic results showed that the nZVI nanoparticles can be uniformly dispersed on the surface of rGO. The removal of U(VI) on nZVI/rGO composites as a function of contact time, pH and U(VI) initial concentration was investigated by batch technique. The removal kinetics of U(VI) on nZVI and nZVI/rGO were well simulated by a pseudo-first-order kinetic model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, respectively. The presence of rGO on nZVI nanoparticles increased the reaction rate and removal capacity of U(VI) significantly, which was attributed to the chemisorbed OH− groups of rGO and the massive enrichment of Fe2+ on rGO surface by XPS analysis. The XRD analysis revealed that the presence of rGO retarded the transformation of iron corrosion products from magnetite/maghemite to lepidocrocite. According to the fitting of EXAFS spectra, the UC (at ∼2.9Å) and UFe (at ∼3.2Å) shells were observed, indicating the formation of inner-sphere surface complexes on nZVI/rGO composites. Therefore, the nZVI/rGO composites can be suitable as efficient materials for the in-situ remediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater in the environmental pollution management.