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Rapid and selective uranium extraction from aqueous solution under visible light in the absence of solid photocatalyst

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Abstract

Extraction of uranium from radioactive waste-water is of significant importance for environmental protection and the recovery of uranium resource. Different from the previous reports to use the solid absorbent/photocatalyst for U(VI) removal, herein, we proposed a new eco-friendly method for the rapid and selective extraction of uranium from aqueous solutions under visible light without solid materials. At optimal pH value and in the presence of organics like alcohols, the U(VI) could be extracted efficiently to form brown uranium solid over wide uranium concentrations under anaerobic condition and visible light, by utilizing the excitation of the given U(VI) species. With comprehensive modelling of the electronic ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) properties, it is proved that pH adjusting towards U(VI) could induce efficient ligand-to-metal-charge-transfer (LMCT) within the uranyl complex under visible light and the reduction of U(VI) to form U(V), which can be transformed into U(IV) via disproportionation reaction. The resulting U(IV) in solid phase makes the extraction much more convenient in operation. More importantly, the excellent selectivity for uranium extraction over interfering alkali metal ions, transition metal ions and the lanthanide metal ions shows a powerful application potential.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21976054, 21976014, U1930402), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0207002), the Science Challenge Project (TZ2016004), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2020MS036). The authors thank the generous computer time from TianHe2-JK Supercomputer Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Shaojun Li, Yezi Hu, Zewen Shen, Yawen Cai, Zhuoyu Ji, Xiaoli Tan, Guixia Zhao & Xiangke Wang

  2. School of Life Science, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, 312000, China

    Shaojun Li, Zhixin Liu & Xiangke Wang

  3. Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Shuxian Hu

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  1. Shaojun Li
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Correspondence to Guixia Zhao, Shuxian Hu or Xiangke Wang.

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Li, S., Hu, Y., Shen, Z. et al. Rapid and selective uranium extraction from aqueous solution under visible light in the absence of solid photocatalyst. Sci. China Chem. 64, 1323–1331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-9987-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-9987-1

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