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Title: XAFS investigation of polyamidoxime-bound uranyl contests the paradigm from small molecule studies

Journal Article · · Energy & Environmental Science
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EE02913A· OSTI ID:1244198
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

In this study, limited resource availability and population growth have motivated interest in harvesting valuable metals from unconventional reserves, but developing selective adsorbents for this task requires structural knowledge of metal binding environments. Amidoxime polymers have been identified as the most promising platform for large-scale extraction of uranium from seawater. However, despite more than 30 years of research, the uranyl coordination environment on these adsorbents has not been positively identified. We report the first XAFS investigation of polyamidoxime-bound uranyl, with EXAFS fits suggesting a cooperative chelating model, rather than the tridentate or η2 motifs proposed by small molecule and computational studies. Samples exposed to environmental seawater also display a feature consistent with a μ2-oxo-bridged transition metal in the uranyl coordination sphere, suggesting in situ formation of a specific binding site or mineralization of uranium on the polymer surface. These unexpected findings challenge several long-held assumptions and have significant implications for development of polymer adsorbents with high selectivity.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1244198
Journal Information:
Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 9, Issue 2; ISSN 1754-5692
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 94 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Covalent Organic Frameworks as a Decorating Platform for Utilization and Affinity Enhancement of Chelating Sites for Radionuclide Sequestration journal March 2018
An Ion‐Crosslinked Supramolecular Hydrogel for Ultrahigh and Fast Uranium Recovery from Seawater journal January 2020
Sunlight Polymerization of Poly(amidoxime) Hydrogel Membrane for Enhanced Uranium Extraction from Seawater journal April 2019
In Situ Anchoring of Pyrrhotite on Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheet for Efficient Immobilization of Uranium journal December 2018
Origin of the unusually strong and selective binding of vanadium by polyamidoximes in seawater journal November 2017
2,6-Diiminopiperidin-1-ol: an overlooked motif relevant to uranyl and transition metal binding on poly(amidoxime) adsorbents journal January 2016
Polyamidoxime chain length drives emergent metal-binding phenomena journal January 2019
A highly efficient uranium grabber derived from acrylic fiber for extracting uranium from seawater journal January 2020
Catalytic reduction of nitrogen to produce ammonia by bismuth-based catalysts: state of the art and future prospects journal January 2020
Structural and computational characterization of a bridging zwitterionic-amidoxime uranyl complex journal January 2019
Tris-amidoximate uranyl complexes via η 2 binding mode coordinated in aqueous solution shown by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory methods journal February 2018


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