Extraction Mechanism of Lanthanide Ions into Silica-based Microparticles Studied by Single Microparticle Manipulation and Microspectroscopy.

Single porous silica microparticles coated with a styrene-divinylbenzene polymer (SDB) impregnated with octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) were injected into an aqueous 3 mol/L nitric acid solution containing trivalent lanthanide (Ln(III)), as a high-level liquid waste model. We used the microcapillary manipulation-injection technique; and the extraction rate of Ln(III), as an Ln(III)-CMPO complex, into the single microparticles was measured by luminescence microspectroscopy. The extraction rate significantly depended on the Ln(III), CMPO, or NO concentration, and was analyzed in terms of diffusion in the pores of the microparticles and the complex formation of Ln(III).