Phosphorus Nitride Imide Nanotubes for Uranium Capture from Seawater

Abstract

Nuclear power plays a pivotal role in the global energy supply. The adsorption-based extraction of uranium from seawater is crucial for the rapid advancement of nuclear power. The phosphorus nitride imide (PN) nanotubes were synthesized in this study using a solvothermal method, resulting in chemically stable cross-linked tubular hollow structures that draw inspiration from the intricate snowflake fractal pattern. Detailed characterization showed that these nanotubes possess a uniformly distributed five-coordinated nanopocket, which exhibited great selectivity and efficiency in binding uranium. PN nanotubes captured 97.34% uranium from the low U-spiked natural seawater (∼355 μg L −1 ) and showed a high adsorption capacity (435.58 mg g −1 ), along with a distribution coefficient, K d U > 8.71 × 10 7 mL g −1 . In addition, PN nanotubes showed a high adsorption capacity of 7.01 mg g −1 in natural seawater. The facile and scalable production of PN nanotubes presented in this study holds implications for advancing their large-scale implementation in the selective extraction of uranium from seawater.