Premium
Significantly Enhanced Uranium Extraction from Seawater with Mass Produced Fully Amidoximated Nanofiber Adsorbent
Author(s) -
Wang Dong,
Song Jianan,
Wen Jun,
Yuan Yihui,
Liu Zhenglian,
Lin Sen,
Wang Haiyang,
Wang Haolun,
Zhao Shilei,
Zhao Xuemei,
Fang Minghao,
Lei Ming,
Li Bo,
Wang Ning,
Wang Xiaolin,
Wu Hui
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201802607
Subject(s) - uranium , adsorption , seawater , uranyl , extraction (chemistry) , elution , desorption , materials science , nuclear chemistry , nanofiber , chemical engineering , chromatography , chemistry , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , metallurgy , oceanography , engineering , geology
The oceans contain hundreds of times more uranium than terrestrial ores. Fiber‐based adsorption is considered to be the most promising method to realize the industrialization of uranium extraction from seawater. In this work, a pre‐amidoximation with a blow spinning strategy is developed for mass production of poly(imide dioxime) nanofiber (PIDO NF) adsorbents with many chelating sites, excellent hydrophilicity, 3D porous architecture, and good mechanical properties. The structural evidences from 13 C NMR spectra confirm that the main functional group responsible for the uranyl binding is not “amidoxime” but cyclic “imidedioxime.” The uranium adsorption capacity of the PIDO NF adsorbent reaches 951 mg‐U per g‐Ads in uranium (8 ppm) spiked natural seawater. An average adsorption capacity of 8.7 mg‐U per g‐Ads is obtained after 56 d of exposure in natural seawater via a flow‐through column system. Moreover, up to 98.5% of the adsorbed uranium can be rapidly eluted out and the adsorbent can be regenerated and reused for over eight cycles of adsorption–desorption. This new blow spun PIDO nanofabric shows great potential as a new generation adsorbent for uranium extraction from seawater.