Bifunctional Phosphorylcholine-Modified Adsorbent with Enhanced Selectivity and Antibacterial Property for Recovering Uranium from Seawater

Abstract

The recovery of uranium from seawater is of great concern because of the growing demand for nuclear energy. Though amidoxime-functionalized adsorbents as the most promising adsorbents have been widely used for this purpose, their low selectivity and vulnerability to biofouling have limited their application in real marine environments. Herein, a new bifunctional phosphorylcholine-modified adsorbent (PVC–PC) is disclosed. The PVC–PC fiber is found to be suitable for use in the pH range of seawater and metals that commonly coexist with uranium, such as alkali and alkaline earth metals, transition metals, and lanthanide metals, have no obvious effect on its uranium adsorption capacity. PVC–PC shows better selectivity and adsorption capacity than the commonly used amidoxime-functionalized adsorbent. Furthermore, PVC–PC fiber exhibits excellent antibacterial properties which could reduce the effects of biofouling caused by marine microorganisms. Because of its good selectivity and antibacterial property, phosphorylcholine-based material shows great potential as a new generation adsorbent for uranium recovery from seawater.

Alkynyl-Based sp 2 Carbon-Conjugated Covalent Organic Frameworks with Enhanced Uranium Extraction from Seawater by Photoinduced Multiple Effects

“…18,19 In the complex marine environment, severe marine biofouling is caused by the attachment of a mass of marine microorganisms, which is one of the most critical factors affecting the uranium extraction from the seawater. 5,20 Recently, a few reports have synthesized antibacterial adsorbents with excellent performance by covalently cross-linking a broad-spectrum antibiotic into adsorbents 18 or doping silver ions on chitosan-graphene oxide foam substrate. 1 These methods can significantly improve the extraction ability of uranium from seawater.…”

Supramolecularly Poly(amidoxime)-Loaded Macroporous Resin for Fast Uranium Recovery from Seawater and Uranium-Containing Wastewater

“…The U-adsorption kinetics was described by the pseudo-second order kinetic eq : where “ q t ” and “ q e ” are the adsorption capacity (mg·g –1 ) of uranium in the contact and equilibrium process, respectively, uranium adsorption capacity (mg·g –1 ) at a certain time. “ k 2 ” is the adsorption rate constant [g·(mg –1 ·min –1 )], and “ t ” is the contact time [min]. , …”

Application of poly(vinylphosphonic acid) modified poly(amidoxime) in uptake of uranium from seawater

“…Uranium (U(VI)) in seawater is the only alternative source on Earth, and could meet the growing demand for thousands of years. [1][2][3][4][5] However, the task of extracting U(VI) from seawater faces many practical problems, such as its very low concentration, unpredictable ocean weather, and destructive marine biofouling etc.…”