IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-57113-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A synergistic coordination-reduction interface for electrochemical reductive extraction of uranium with low impurities from seawater

Author

Listed:
  • Hongliang Guo

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Enmin Hu

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology
    Nanchang University)

  • Yihao Wang

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Zhenhong Ou

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Bichu Huang

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Jia Lei

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Huanhuan Liu

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Rong He

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

  • Wenkun Zhu

    (Southwest University of Science & Technology)

Abstract

Electrochemical extraction of uranium from seawater is a promising strategy for the sustainable supply of nuclear fuel, whereas the current progress suffers from the co-deposition of impurities. Herein, we construct a synergistic coordination-reduction interface in CMOS@NSF, achieving electrochemical extraction of black UO2 product from seawater. The internal sulfur of CoMoOS tailors the electron distribution, resulting in the electron accumulation of terminal O sites for strong uranyl binding. Meanwhile, the interfacial connection of CoMoOS with Ni3S2 accelerates the electron transfer and promoted the reductive properties. Such synergistic coordination-reduction interface ensures the formation and preservation of tetravalent uranium, preventing the co-deposition of alkalis in crystalline transformation. From natural seawater, CMOS@NSF exhibits an electrochemical extraction capacity of 2.65 mg g−1 d−1 with black UO2 solid products as final products. This work provides an efficient strategy for the electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater with low impurities.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongliang Guo & Enmin Hu & Yihao Wang & Zhenhong Ou & Bichu Huang & Jia Lei & Huanhuan Liu & Rong He & Wenkun Zhu, 2025. "A synergistic coordination-reduction interface for electrochemical reductive extraction of uranium with low impurities from seawater," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57113-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57113-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57113-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-57113-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaolu Liu & Yinghui Xie & Mengjie Hao & Yang Li & Zhongshan Chen & Hui Yang & Geoffrey I. N. Waterhouse & Xiangke Wang & Shengqian Ma, 2024. "Secondary metal ion-induced electrochemical reduction of U(VI) to U(IV) solids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Yichao Huang & Yuanhui Sun & Xueli Zheng & Toshihiro Aoki & Brian Pattengale & Jier Huang & Xin He & Wei Bian & Sabrina Younan & Nicholas Williams & Jun Hu & Jingxuan Ge & Ning Pu & Xingxu Yan & Xiaoq, 2019. "Atomically engineering activation sites onto metallic 1T-MoS2 catalysts for enhanced electrochemical hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Hehe Wei & Kai Huang & Da Wang & Ruoyu Zhang & Binghui Ge & Jingyuan Ma & Bo Wen & Shuai Zhang & Qunyang Li & Ming Lei & Cheng Zhang & Joshua Irawan & Li-Min Liu & Hui Wu, 2017. "Iced photochemical reduction to synthesize atomically dispersed metals by suppressing nanocrystal growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jian Wang & Jiahe Zhang & Yang Li & Xinghui Xia & Hengjing Yang & Jae-Hong Kim & Wen Zhang, 2025. "Silver single atoms and nanoparticles on floatable monolithic photocatalysts for synergistic solar water disinfection," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Gaoxin Lin & Zhuang Zhang & Qiangjian Ju & Tong Wu & Carlo U. Segre & Wei Chen & Hongru Peng & Hui Zhang & Qiunan Liu & Zhi Liu & Yifan Zhang & Shuyi Kong & Yuanlv Mao & Wei Zhao & Kazu Suenaga & Fuqi, 2023. "Bottom-up evolution of perovskite clusters into high-activity rhodium nanoparticles toward alkaline hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Khandelwal, Akshat & Maarisetty, Dileep & Baral, Saroj Sundar, 2022. "Fundamentals and application of single-atom photocatalyst in sustainable energy and environmental applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Xiaowei Shi & Chao Dai & Xin Wang & Jiayue Hu & Junying Zhang & Lingxia Zheng & Liang Mao & Huajun Zheng & Mingshan Zhu, 2022. "Protruding Pt single-sites on hexagonal ZnIn2S4 to accelerate photocatalytic hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57113-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.