Engineering layered double hydroxide with enzyme-mimicking antibiofouling ability for uranium capture

Materials capable of capturing environmentally mobile uranium from various sources, including nuclear waste and bio-aggressive seawater, are critical for energy and environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, the stability and reusability of existing absorbents is limited in seawater due to the ubiquitous and notorious biofouling, and therefore, developing high-performance materials with antibiofouling activity is of great importance for uranium capture. Here we report a tungstate exchanged layered double hydroxide composite (MgAl-LDH-NO3--WO42-) that exhibits a significant uranium removal efficiency of 98.8 % in 240 ppm uranium-containing wastewater and a maximum uptake capacity of 409.6 mg g−1. More importantly, MgAl-LDH-NO3--WO42- displays an excellent antibiofouling ability in bio-aggressive seawater by mimicking natural haloperoxidase in marine algae, enabling the excellent cyclic stability for uranium capture from seawater. This work provides an effective strategy to develop highly efficient LDH-based materials for uranium capture.