Solvent induced synthesis of uranium organic frameworks: From 1D→2D based on a flexible carboxylic acid ligand

Abstract

The development of nuclear energy gives lots of spent fuel which do harm to the environment and human health. There are numerous researchers focused on the disposal of the spent fuel with the adsorption method by selecting different materials as adsorbents. This work aims to handle the waste by using Lewis acid to accumulate and solidify the uranium. In this study, to remove the uranium from the spent fuel, a novel flexible tripod carboxylic acid based on sulfur was used to react with the uranium to form the interesting uranium organic framework with a one-dimensional chain and two-dimensional network. To our knowledge, this is the first case of the MOFs (Metal-Organic Frameworks) based on the ligand H3TTTTA, and the ligand in the compounds gives different coordination styles. All the UOFs exhibit outstanding stability in the solution with pH from 1 to 14, which shows brilliant application potential in the extreme environment. The methyl violet was selected to verify the adsorption properties of the materials, and UOF-1 shows the best removal rate of 96.98% in 24 h.