'Confine' radioactive gas

American experts have found an effective way to "trap" radioactive gas into biological molecules.

One of the challenges of nuclear energy is the fuel bar used to emit extremely dangerous radioactive gases.

For example, the No. 1 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011 made regional countries concerned about the amount of radioactive gas released into the atmosphere threatening people's health.

Not only harmful to humans, these gases also make storing and recycling even more difficult.

MOF model in the laboratory - (Photo: Sandia Laboratories)

Now chemists from Sandia National Laboratory (USA) have found a way to isolate iodine emissions from other molecules in nuclear fuel by "trapping" toxic gas into a molecular cage.

Biological metal frame , called MOF , is a kind of crystal material and has a pore-like surface.

The American team came up with the idea of ​​forming MOF from zeolite, a material commonly used in industry as a water absorbent. Zeolite is made of minerals that have honeycomb structure, allowing it to attract other molecules easily.

Initially, experts thought that the form of silver atoms could also contain idodine quite well, because silver and iodine merge into silver iodide (AgI). However, silver is not feasible because of its high cost.

Therefore, they switched to other materials. Research shows that if you put zinc inside the frame made of biological molecules, they are about the size of the iodine molecule. This allows them to absorb iodine and keep this gas inside the MOF.

Next, experts only need to convert the molecular mass into glass form and store them safely.

A great advantage of this method is that it can be converted into a tablet or powder, convenient for cleaning in case of a nuclear incident.

This is also the first time humans have used a zeolite-like material to make MOF, meaning that other molecules can also be used to absorb toxic chemicals in the future.