Hollow multi-shelled structure engineering of organosilica for efficient and selective uranium extraction from seawater

Abstract

Uranium extraction from seawater is critical for the development of nuclear energy, but the progress is still seriously limited by the performance and cost of current adsorbents. Herein, a convenient and general co-condensation process is designed to prepare amidoximated multi-shelled hollow mesoporous organosilica adsorbent (AO-HMO), which exhibits a high uranium extraction capacity of 862.07 mg·g−1 in uranium-spiked simulated seawater and 9.67 mg·g−1 in natural seawater. The run-through mesoporous structure and multi-shelled surface provide fast diffusion channels and more active sites for uranium adsorption. Moreover, AO-HMO exhibits a long service life due to its robust structure, maintaining an ideal adsorption capacity over 10 adsorption-desorption cycles. Coupled with the synthesis-cost advantage, AO-HMO will surely show great application potential in uranium extraction form seawater in future.