A Marine‐Inspired Hybrid Sponge for Highly Efficient Uranium Extraction from Seawater

Abstract

Marine sponges are used as biomonitors of heavy metals contamination in coastal environment as they process large amounts of water and have a high capacity for accumulating heavy metals. Here, inspired by the unique physical and physiological features of marine sponges, a surface engineered synthetic sponge for the highly efficient harvesting of uranium from natural seawater is developed. An ultrathin poly(imide dioxime) (PIDO)/alginate (Alg) interpenetrating polymer network hydrogel layer is uniformly wrapped around the skeleton of a melamine sponge (MS) substrate through a simple dippingdrying-crosslinking process, providing the hybrid MS@PIDO/Alg sponge with excellent uranium adsorption performance and sufficient mechanical strength to withstand the harsh conditions of practical applications. The maximum adsorption capacity reaches 910.98 mg-U g-gel -1 for the PIDO/Alg hydrogel layer and 291.51 mg-U g-sponge -1 for the whole hybrid MS@PIDO/ Alg sponge in uranium-spiked natural seawater. The adsorption capacity measured after 56 d of exposure in 5 tons of natural seawater is evaluated to be 5.84 mg-U g-gel -1 (1.87 mg-U g-sponge -1 ). This novel approach shows great promise for the mass production of high-performance sponge adsorbent for uranium recovery from natural seawater and nuclear waste.

Functionalized natural cellulose fibres for the recovery of uranium from seawater

“…22 New generation bres having amidoxime functionality attached to sophisticated high surface area substrates have now reached capacities in excess of 1000 mg U g À1 in spiked seawater and 10 mg U g À1 in natural seawater. [23][24][25] Compared to petrochemical-based polymers, natural bres such as Sisal and Hemp can be mass produced, are likely to have a signicant cost advantage, and most importantly, they are renewable materials. Methods for improving the surface properties of cellulose-based renewable materials involving radiation-induced graing and direct functionalization have been extensively explored.…”

Polyamidoxime grafting on ultrahigh-strength cellulose-based jute fabrics for effectively extracting uranium from seawater

“…This was detrimental to the adsorption capacity because the thicker the resin layer, the smaller the specific surface area and the lower the adsorption efficiency. 28 Further, the successful grafting of PAO onto Jute-TMC can also be proved by high-resolution XPS analysis of Jute-TMC-PAO (Fig. 6A): the additional peak of N 1s (Fig.…”

“…This is because attached PAO without any covalent bond on the surface of the Jute-TMC-PAO fabric can be easily washed away by alkali solutions. 28 Moreover, Fig. 3C displays the surface morphology of Jute-TMC-PAO, versus Jute-TMC (Fig.…”

Ultrafast and Highly Selective Uranium Extraction from Seawater by Hydrogel‐like Spidroin‐based Protein Fiber

“…b) Comparation of uranium adsorption capacity. The materials used for uranium extraction from natural seawater were listed in Table S2, including: 1, SSUP fiber, 2, PAO hydrogel, 3, Anti‐UiO‐66, 4, SMON‐PAO fiber, 5, PIDO nanofiber, 6, (PVC‐co‐CPVC)‐g‐poly(AO‐tBA) fibers, 7, PIDO/Alg hydrogel layer, 8, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐IA) “AF” fibers heated in DMSO, 9, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐IA) “AF” fibers, 10, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐PA) “AI” fibers, 11, PE‐g‐PAO fiber, 12, CPE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐tBA) fibers, 13, 3D hierarchical porous amidoxime fiber, 14, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐AA) fiber, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐MA) fiber, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐VSA) fibers, PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐ITA) fibers, and PE‐g‐poly(AO‐co‐PA) fibers, and 15, Hollow‐gear (Aspun) PE‐gpoly(AO‐co‐MA) fibers …”