RESEARCH ARTICLE

Huge block adsorbent with super-sized water transport channels for ultrafast and high-capacity recovery of dispersed uranium

State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China

^* Corresponding authors (emails: yuanyh@hainanu.edu.cn (Yihui Yuan); wangn02@foxmail.com (Ning Wang))

Received: 23 May 2024
Revised: 5 September 2024
Accepted: 19 September 2024

Abstract

Efficient recovery of dispersed uranium is critical for the sustainable development of nuclear energy. Designing an adsorbent with water transport channel structure is a promising approach for boosting uranium recovery performance, while balancing the demands of high stability and high adsorption capacity using currently available structural design methods is challenging. Herein, a novel structurally stable huge block sponge with super-sized water transport channels (SWTC-PAO sponge) is fabricated to recover dispersed uranium. In natural seawater, SWTC-PAO sponge realizes a high uranium extraction capacity of 9.1 mg g⁻¹ with a rapid extraction rate. Moreover, the SWTC-PAO sponge can efficiently remove 99.59% of uranium within 24 h from uranium-containing wastewater. The concentrations of metal ions in the treated wastewater are lower than the drinking water standard set by the WHO. The broad application potential in natural seawater and wastewater makes the SWTC-PAO sponge a highly promising adsorbent for recovering dispersed uranium resources and for treating environmental uranium pollution.