New material boosts seawater uranium extraction by nearly 1000x

Researchers from Weifang University and North China Electric Power University have developed a novel material that dramatically improves uranium extraction from seawater, a breakthrough with significant implications for nuclear energy. The team created a new family of sulfonic covalent organic frameworks (S-COFs) engineered through a design concept called "stacking mode engineering." By precisely arranging the internal layers in an AB stacking mode, the material forms pockets that selectively bind uranium ions with four-point coordination, achieving a binding affinity about 1,000 times greater than traditional AA-stacked versions. In natural seawater tests, the AB-stacked S-COFs extracted 31.5 milligrams of uranium per gram of sorbent in just one day, the highest performance reported to date, while effectively rejecting competing ions like vanadium. This advancement addresses a critical challenge in nuclear energy: the limited availability and rising cost of land-based uranium reserves. Oceans contain nearly 4.5 billion tons of uranium, but its low concentration and