Rapid capture of uranium over acid-tolerant hybrid nanofibrous membrane

Efficient capture uranium from seawater/wastewater is important to not only supply raw material for nuclear energy but also avert the environmental threat from uranium-containing solutions. It is of great significance to design highly efficient adsorbents with stability and recyclability. Herein, the acid-tolerant nanofibrous adsorbent was synthesized by a combination of chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) co-electrospinning, crosslink treatment, acrylonitrile grafting and amidoximation. The resultant CS/PVA-AO nanofibers exhibited the maximum uranium adsorption capacity of 714 mg g−1, larger than that of CS based sorbents. The CS/PVA-AO nanofibers demonstrated reliable stability in acid conditions as well as in adsorption–desorption cycling. The model fitting investigation showed that the uranium adsorbed on CS/PVA-AO nanofibers by the Langmuir adsorption model with the pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetics. This research provides a more efficient and convenient option for uranium recovery from seawater/wastewater.