New and simple synthetic strategy for two-dimensional ultra-microporous aromatic framework for selective uranium capture in liquid

Uranium is a key element to improve nuclear energy demands, and thereby the extraction of uranium from seawater is a strategic way to address uranium sustainability. Herein, a novel two-dimensional porous aromatic framework (AO-PAF), which possesses an ultra-microporous architecture with an ordered structure, excellent stability and selectivity of uranium extraction from a liquid phase. AO-PAF shows excellent uranium adsorption capacities of 637 (mg/g) and 3.22 (mg/g) in simulated and natural seawater attributable to the selective uranium coordinating groups on highly accessible pores on the walls of open channels. In addition, benefiting from the super-hydrophilicity due to the presence of amidoxime groups attributes high selectivity and ultrafast kinetics with an uptake rate of 0.43 ± 0.03 (mg/g·day) and allowing half-saturation within 1.35 ± 0.09 days. This strategy demonstrates the potential of PAF not only recovery of uranium and can be extended for other applications by sensible planning of target ligands.