A half-wave rectified alternating current electrochemical method for uranium extraction from seawater

In total there is hundreds of times more uranium in sea water than on land, but extracting it for use in nuclear power generation is challenging due to its low concentration (∼3 ppb) and the high salinity background. Current approaches based on sorbent materials are limited due to their surface-based physicochemical adsorption nature. Here we use a half-wave rectified alternating current electrochemical (HW-ACE) method for uranium extraction from sea water based on an amidoxime-functionalized carbon electrode. The amidoxime functionalization enables surface specific binding to uranyl ions, while the electric field can migrate the ions to the electrode and induce electrodeposition of uranium compounds, forming charge-neutral species. Extraction is not limited by the electrode surface area, and the alternating manner of the applied voltage prevents unwanted cations from blocking the active sites and avoids water splitting. The HW-ACE method achieved a ninefold higher uranium extraction capacity (1,932 mg g−1) without saturation and fourfold faster kinetics than conventional physicochemical methods using uranium-spiked sea water. The large amount of uranium in the oceans could be exploited for nuclear fuel, but existing physicochemical extraction methods are limited in terms of capacity and rates of removal. Here the authors use an electrochemical extraction technique, demonstrating improved uptake capacity and kinetics.