IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-35942-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane enables efficient actinides/lanthanides separation

Author

Listed:
  • Zhipeng Wang

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Liqin Huang

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Xue Dong

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Tong Wu

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Qi Qing

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Jing Chen

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Yuexiang Lu

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Chao Xu

    (Tsinghua University)

Abstract

Separation of actinides from lanthanides is of great importance for the safe management of nuclear waste and sustainable development of nuclear energy, but it represents a huge challenge due to the chemical complexity of these f-elements. Herein, we report an efficient separation strategy based on ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane. In the presence of a strong oxidizing reagent, the actinides (U, Np, Pu, Am) in a nitric acid solution exist in the high valent and linear dioxo form of actinyl ions while the lanthanides (Ce, Nd, Eu, Gd, etc.) remain as trivalent/tetravalent spheric ions. A task-specific graphene oxide membrane with an interlayer nanochannel spacing between the sizes of hydrated actinyl ions and lanthanides ions is tailored and used as an ionic cut-off filter, which blocks the larger and linear actinyl ions but allows the smaller and spheric lanthanides ions to penetrate through, affording lanthanides/actinides separation factors up to ~400. This work realizes the group separation of actinides from lanthanides under highly acidic conditions by a simple ion sieving strategy and highlights the great potential of utilizing graphene oxide membrane for nuclear waste treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhipeng Wang & Liqin Huang & Xue Dong & Tong Wu & Qi Qing & Jing Chen & Yuexiang Lu & Chao Xu, 2023. "Ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane enables efficient actinides/lanthanides separation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-35942-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35942-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-35942-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-35942-1?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. B. Radha & A. Esfandiar & F. C. Wang & A. P. Rooney & K. Gopinadhan & A. Keerthi & A. Mishchenko & A. Janardanan & P. Blake & L. Fumagalli & M. Lozada-Hidalgo & S. Garaj & S. J. Haigh & I. V. Grigorie, 2016. "Molecular transport through capillaries made with atomic-scale precision," Nature, Nature, vol. 538(7624), pages 222-225, October.
    2. Liang Chen & Guosheng Shi & Jie Shen & Bingquan Peng & Bowu Zhang & Yuzhu Wang & Fenggang Bian & Jiajun Wang & Deyuan Li & Zhe Qian & Gang Xu & Gongping Liu & Jianrong Zeng & Lijuan Zhang & Yizhou Yan, 2017. "Ion sieving in graphene oxide membranes via cationic control of interlayer spacing," Nature, Nature, vol. 550(7676), pages 380-383, October.
    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. Xinyue Wen & Tobias Foller & Xiaoheng Jin & Tiziana Musso & Priyank Kumar & Rakesh Joshi, 2022. "Understanding water transport through graphene-based nanochannels via experimental control of slip length," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Qian Zhang & Bo Gao & Ling Zhang & Xiaopeng Liu & Jixiang Cui & Yijun Cao & Hongbo Zeng & Qun Xu & Xinwei Cui & Lei Jiang, 2023. "Anomalous water molecular gating from atomic-scale graphene capillaries for precise and ultrafast molecular sieving," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Nawapong Unsuree & Sorasak Phanphak & Pongthep Prajongtat & Aritsa Bunpheng & Kulpavee Jitapunkul & Pornpis Kongputhon & Pannaree Srinoi & Pawin Iamprasertkun & Wisit Hirunpinyopas, 2021. "A Review: Ion Transport of Two-Dimensional Materials in Novel Technologies from Macro to Nanoscopic Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-38, September.
    4. Cheng Chi & Gongze Liu & Meng An & Yufeng Zhang & Dongxing Song & Xin Qi & Chunyu Zhao & Zequn Wang & Yanzheng Du & Zizhen Lin & Yang Lu & He Huang & Yang Li & Chongjia Lin & Weigang Ma & Baoling Huan, 2023. "Reversible bipolar thermopower of ionic thermoelectric polymer composite for cyclic energy generation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Quan Peng & Ruoyu Wang & Zilin Zhao & Shihong Lin & Ying Liu & Dianyu Dong & Zheng Wang & Yiman He & Yuzhang Zhu & Jian Jin & Lei Jiang, 2024. "Extreme Li-Mg selectivity via precise ion size differentiation of polyamide membrane," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Bo Lin & Jian Jiang & Xiao Cheng Zeng & Lei Li, 2023. "Temperature-pressure phase diagram of confined monolayer water/ice at first-principles accuracy with a machine-learning force field," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Kuichang Zuo & Xiang Zhang & Xiaochuan Huang & Eliezer F. Oliveira & Hua Guo & Tianshu Zhai & Weipeng Wang & Pedro J. J. Alvarez & Menachem Elimelech & Pulickel M. Ajayan & Jun Lou & Qilin Li, 2022. "Ultrahigh resistance of hexagonal boron nitride to mineral scale formation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Hongjian Wang & Yeming Zhai & Yang Li & Yu Cao & Benbing Shi & Runlai Li & Zingting Zhu & Haifei Jiang & Zheyuan Guo & Meidi Wang & Long Chen & Yawei Liu & Kai-Ge Zhou & Fusheng Pan & Zhongyi Jiang, 2022. "Covalent organic framework membranes for efficient separation of monovalent cations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Yuanxi Yu & Chenxing Yang & Matteo Baggioli & Anthony E. Phillips & Alessio Zaccone & Lei Zhang & Ryoichi Kajimoto & Mitsutaka Nakamura & Dehong Yu & Liang Hong, 2022. "The ω3 scaling of the vibrational density of states in quasi-2D nanoconfined solids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Nathan Ronceray & Massimo Spina & Vanessa Hui Yin Chou & Chwee Teck Lim & Andre K. Geim & Slaven Garaj, 2024. "Elastocapillarity-driven 2D nano-switches enable zeptoliter-scale liquid encapsulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Jincheng Tong & Nathan Bruyn & Adriana Alieva & Elizabeth. J. Legge & Matthew Boyes & Xiuju Song & Alvin J. Walisinghe & Andrew J. Pollard & Michael W. Anderson & Thomas Vetter & Manuel Melle-Franco &, 2024. "Crystallization of molecular layers produced under confinement onto a surface," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Zhen Zhang & Preeti Bhauriyal & Hafeesudeen Sahabudeen & Zhiyong Wang & Xiaohui Liu & Mike Hambsch & Stefan C. B. Mannsfeld & Renhao Dong & Thomas Heine & Xinliang Feng, 2022. "Cation-selective two-dimensional polyimine membranes for high-performance osmotic energy conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Yang Wang & Tingting Lian & Nadezda V. Tarakina & Jiayin Yuan & Markus Antonietti, 2022. "Lamellar carbon nitride membrane for enhanced ion sieving and water desalination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Yuan Kang & Ting Hu & Yuqi Wang & Kaiqiang He & Zhuyuan Wang & Yvonne Hora & Wang Zhao & Rongming Xu & Yu Chen & Zongli Xie & Huanting Wang & Qinfen Gu & Xiwang Zhang, 2023. "Nanoconfinement enabled non-covalently decorated MXene membranes for ion-sieving," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. Rezakazemi, Mashallah & Arabi Shamsabadi, Ahmad & Lin, Haiqing & Luis, Patricia & Ramakrishna, Seeram & Aminabhavi, Tejraj M., 2021. "Sustainable MXenes-based membranes for highly energy-efficient separations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Ri-Jian Mo & Shuang Chen & Li-Qiu Huang & Xin-Lei Ding & Saima Rafique & Xing-Hua Xia & Zhong-Qiu Li, 2024. "Regulating ion affinity and dehydration of metal-organic framework sub-nanochannels for high-precision ion separation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Zhangcai Zhang & Lixin Liang & Jianze Feng & Guangjin Hou & Wencai Ren, 2024. "Significant enhancement of proton conductivity in solid acid at the monolayer limit," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Rongming Xu & Yuan Kang & Weiming Zhang & Bingcai Pan & Xiwang Zhang, 2023. "Two-dimensional MXene membranes with biomimetic sub-nanochannels for enhanced cation sieving," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Weiming Wang & Qingguo Liu & Yingnan Liu & Rigong Zhang & Tian Cheng & Youguo Yan & Qianze Hu & Tingting Li, 2023. "Research Status, Existing Problems, and the Prospect of New Methods of Determining the Lower Limit of the Physical Properties of Tight Sandstone Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-19, July.
    20. Shuangqiao Han & Junyong Zhu & Adam A. Uliana & Dongyang Li & Yatao Zhang & Lin Zhang & Yong Wang & Tao He & Menachem Elimelech, 2022. "Microporous organic nanotube assisted design of high performance nanofiltration membranes," 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:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-35942-1. 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.