Highly stable and activated Cerium-based MOFs superstructures for ultrahigh selective uranium (VI) capture from simulated seawater

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their tunable morphologies, open topological structures, large specific surface areas, and large number of active sites. These characteristics facilitate the potential application of MOFs to uranium extraction from seawater. Through calcination at low temperatures, activated MOFs with transition structures between MOFs and metal oxides can be prepared. Activated MOFs can not only maintain the structural advantages of the original material but can also expose many active metal sites. In this study, we rapidly synthesized Ce (1,3,5-Benzenetricarboxylic acid)3 (H2O)6 with a superstructure comprising one-dimensional nanorods at room temperature. Activated cerium-based metal-organic framework (CeMOF) with strong water stability was obtained via calcination in nitrogen at 150 °C. Furthermore, CeBTC-150 exhibited ultrahigh selectivity for uranium, and the distribution coefficient (Kd) reached approximately 3.5 × 105 mL/g. The proposed method yielded not only an efficient adsorbent for uranium extraction from simulated seawater but also an innovative concept for the extraction of uranium ions from seawater using activated MOFs.