Nature Communications (May 2024)

Ion pair sites for efficient electrochemical extraction of uranium in real nuclear wastewater

  • Tao Lin,
  • Tao Chen,
  • Chi Jiao,
  • Haoyu Zhang,
  • Kai Hou,
  • Hongxiang Jin,
  • Yan Liu,
  • Wenkun Zhu,
  • Rong He

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48564-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Electrochemical uranium extraction from nuclear wastewater represents an emerging strategy for recycling uranium resources. However, in nuclear fuel production which generates the majority of uranium-containing nuclear wastewater, fluoride ion (F−) co-exists with uranyl (UO2 2+), resulting in the complex species of UO2Fx and thus decreasing extraction efficiency. Herein, we construct Tiδ+-PO4 3− ion pair extraction sites in Ti(OH)PO4 for efficient electrochemical uranium extraction in wastewater from nuclear fuel production. These sites selectively bind with UO2Fx through the combined Ti-F and multiple O-U-O bonds. In the uranium extraction, the uranium species undergo a crystalline transition from U3O7 to K3UO2F5. In real nuclear wastewater, the uranium is electrochemically extracted with a high efficiency of 99.6% and finally purified as uranium oxide powder, corresponding to an extraction capacity of 6829 mg g−1 without saturation. This work paves an efficient way for electrochemical uranium recycling in real wastewater of nuclear production.