Wide-area surface decontamination is essential in the emergency situation of release of radioisotopes to public such as nuclear accident or terrorist attack. Here, a self-generated hydrogel based on the reversible complex between poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and phenylboronic acid-grafted poly (methyl vinyl ether-alt-mono-sodium maleate) (PBA-g-PVM-SM) was developed to remove the radioactive cesium from surface. Two aqueous polymeric solutions of PVA and PBA-g-PVM-SM containing sulfur-zeolite were simultaneously applied to surfaces, which subsequently self-generated a hydrogel based on the PBA-diol ester bond. The sulfur-zeolite suspended in hydrogel selectively remove the 137Cs from contaminated surface and easily separated from the dissociable used hydrogel by simple water rinsing. In radioactive tests, the resulting hydrogel containing sulfur-chabazite displayed high 137Cs removal efficiencies of 96.996% for painted cement and 63.404% for cement, which was 2.33 times higher than that of commercial strippable coating (Decongel). Considering the intrinsic various ion-exchange ability of zeolite, our hydrogel system has the excellent potential for the effective removal of various hazardous contamination including radionuclides from the surface.

본 연구에서는 양이온 교환막으로 Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK)를 사용하였고, 음이온 교환막은 poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)과 poly(vinyl amine) (PVAm)을 혼합하여 가교시킨 막을 이용하였으며, 이에 대한 막결합형 축전식 탈염 공정(Membrane capacitive deionization, MCDI)의 성능실험을 진행하였다. 음이온 교환막의 함수율, 이온교환용량, FT-IR 측정을 통하여 막의 특성을 알아보았다. 음이온 교환막의 가교 시간이 3 h에서 5 h으로 증가할수록 염 제거 효율은 81.3%에서 65.7, 53.8%로 감소하였다. PVAm의 농도를 40, 60, 80%로 달리하여 실험한 결과 염 제거 효율은 81.3, 75.2, 37.7%로 PVAm이 80% 함량일 때 가장 효율이 떨어졌다. 이는 음이온 교환막의 가교 시간과 PVAm의 농도가 염제거 성능에 영향을 미치는 것으로 사료된다.