Artemisia gum reinforced amidoxime gel membrane promotes rapid extraction of uranium from seawater

The development of high-efficiency adsorbents for rapid recovery of uranium from wastewater and seawater is considered an important condition for the sustainable development of nuclear energy. Herein, polyamidoxime (PAO) was introduced into a novel Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch. gum -polyvinyl alcohol gel system, and ASKG-PVA/PAO gel membrane was prepared by crosslinking and membrane laying. Due to the high swelling capacity of ASKG, PAO chain is fully exposed, and ASKG-PVA/PAO membrane shows excellent uranium adsorption capacity of 681.20 mg·g−1 (pH = 6). The introduction of ASKG greatly improve the adsorption rate of the membrane, and the adsorption process reach equilibrium within 60 min (1/6 of original material). The static adsorption process conforms to the second-order kinetics and Langmuir model. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that the strong coordination of N and O in amidoxime group is the main reason for uranium adsorption. ASKG-PVA/PAO membrane has great potential as uranium adsorbent due to its fast and efficient adsorption, easy separation and good recycling performance.