Extraction of uranium from water: A strategy based on tribocatalysis

Due to most of the U(VI) extraction methods suffering the issues of high cost and low efficiency, finding a new method is still urgent. In this work, we report a way to remove U(VI) from water by tribocatalysis, where a natural mineral of attapulgite is used as the tribocatalyst. By a careful investigation, it is confirmed that the ultrasonic-generated microbubbles rub with the attapulgite to form free radicals of h+, ·O2 -, and ·OH, which could then be transformed to H2O2 to react with U(VI) to form UO2O2. The extraction rate of U(VI) from water is up to 87.88% (50 ppm) in 200 min. This work using the natural mineral attapulgite being tribocatalyst has the advantages of low cost and high efficiency, which also provide new insight into the conversion of U(VI) in natural conditions and will have great potential in the treatment of nuclide wastewater and seawater.

由于大多数铀（VI）提取方法存在成本高和效率低的问题，寻找一种新方法仍然迫在眉睫。在这项工作中，我们报道了一种通过摩擦催化从水中去除铀（VI）的方法，其中使用一种天然矿物凹凸棒石作为摩擦催化剂。经过仔细研究，证实超声产生的微气泡与凹凸棒石摩擦形成h⁺、·O₂⁻和·OH自由基，这些自由基随后可转化为H₂O₂与铀（VI）反应形成UO₂O₂。在200分钟内，从水中提取铀（VI）的效率高达87.88%（50 ppm）。这项使用天然矿物凹凸棒石作为摩擦催化剂的工作具有成本低和效率高的优点，也为自然条件下铀（VI）的转化提供了新的见解，并在核素废水和海水处理方面具有巨大潜力。