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High-capacity uranium extraction from seawater through constructing synergistic multiple dynamic bonds

Nature Water volume 3, pages 89–98 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Seawater is the largest uranium reserve in the world, and the efficient extraction of uranium from seawater could facilitate the sustainable development of the nuclear industry for thousands of years. However, conventional extraction processes must suffer the dissociation of CO32− ions from [UO2(CO3)3]4− anions to bind the uranyl core, which has a high energy barrier, resulting in poor selectivity and long working times. Here we combine a molecular templating strategy to synthesize several hydroxy-rich covalent organic frameworks with tunable nanopore sizes. In the 1.2-nm-sized covalent organic framework cavity, hydroxyl groups coupled with the hydrogen-bonded NH4+ cations selectively bind uranyl tricarbonate ions via synergistic electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions. This framework exhibits high uranium extraction capability with a removal ratio of > 99.99% in 400 min (initial concentration of 5 ppm at 298 K, pH = 8–9). Notably, a record uranium adsorption uptake is achieved with a capacity of 23.66 mg g−1 in seven days from natural seawater, surpassing that of classical amidoxime-based adsorbents by a factor of 350%.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation of hydroxy-rich COF networks.
Fig. 2: Structures and pore environments.
Fig. 3: Ion uptakes of hydroxy-rich COFs.
Fig. 4: Uranium adsorption mechanism.
Fig. 5: Uranium recovery and uptake from real seawater.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information files. Extra data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

G.Z. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2022YFB3805902), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 22131004 and U21A20330) and the ‘111’ project (grant number B18012). Y. Yuan was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 21975039 and 22322501), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant numbers 2412020ZD008 and GFPY202309) and the CNNC Key Laboratory on Uranium Extraction from Seawater (KLUES202202). Y. Yang was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52204389).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Ye Yuan, Doudou Cao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Polyoxometalate and Reticular Material Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China

    Ye Yuan, Doudou Cao, Fengchao Cui, Cheng Zhang, Yingbo Song, Yue Zheng, Jiarui Cao & Guangshan Zhu

  2. Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials of Ministry of Education and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Yajie Yang

  3. Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy, CNNC Key Laboratory on Uranium Extraction from Seawater, Beijing, China

    Shusen Chen, Yan Song & Fengju Wang

Authors
  1. Ye Yuan
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Contributions

Y. Yuan and D.C. helped design the experiments and wrote portions of the paper. D.C. carried out the experiments and performed the data interpretation. F.C., C.Z. and J.C. conducted the theoretical calculations. Y. Yang helped design the experiments. Yingbo Song, Y.Z., S.C., Yan Song and F.W. performed the characterizations for uranium adsorption. Y. Yuan and G.Z. developed the concept, supervised the experiments and drafted the paper.

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Correspondence to Guangshan Zhu.

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Nature Water thanks Shengqian Ma and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Yuan, Y., Cao, D., Cui, F. et al. High-capacity uranium extraction from seawater through constructing synergistic multiple dynamic bonds. Nat Water 3, 89–98 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00346-y

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