Palladium recovery technology to safeguard resource security

Titanium-based MXene material nanosheets reportedly recover 99.9% high-purity palladium within 30 minutes.

A research team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology seeks to overcome existing overseas technologies that operate only in strongly acidic environments, limiting their applicability to weakly acidic wastewater commonly found in industrial settings.

This technology features a high-density arrangement of TiOx nanoclusters with unsaturated oxygen on the surface of the nanomaterials. 

It requires no toxic chemicals or power supply, and the recovered palladium is said to naturally reduce to its metallic state, allowing separation through simple filtration.

Furthermore, this material reportedly exhibits adsorption performance at 1,983mg/g and maintains approximately 90% efficiency even after more than 10 cycles of reuse. The recovered palladium-nanosheet composite can be recycled back into a hydrogen evolution catalyst, making it suitable for implementing a complete precious metal recycling system.

The technology operates at room temperature and does not require high-temperature processing or strong acidic chemicals, so it is expected to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% or more compared to existing processes.