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Electron-buffering rechargeable microelectrode adsorbents for rapid environmental remediation of uranium-containing wastewater

Nature Water volume 3, pages 937–948 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Environmental remediation of uranium-containing wastewater has emerged as a critical challenge in the nuclear industry, addressing both ecological protection and resource sustainability concerns. However, conventional adsorption methods suffer from slow kinetics, whereas electrochemical approaches are limited by the direct coupling between electron injection and uranyl ion reduction, leading to ion-blocking layers that severely impede remediation efficiency. Here we develop an electron-buffering rechargeable microelectrode adsorbent system that operates through a three-step cycle: electron storage, uranium extraction and adsorbent regeneration. This sequential process decouples electron injection from uranyl ion reduction by separating them in time and space. The microelectrode stores electrons in an environment free of competing ions and releases them in a controlled manner during uranium extraction. The Fe–O bonds on the surface serve as active sites for capturing uranyl ions and lowering their reduction overpotential, whereas the release of charge-balancing cations maintains surface electronegativity for efficient mass transfer. This synergistic integration achieves an initial extraction rate of 1,062 mg g−1 h−1 and a uranium capacity of 854 mg g−1, with nearly 100% electron utilization efficiency. Most importantly, when tested with actual uranium mine wastewater containing 0.545 ppm uranium, the system achieves 97.1% extraction efficiency and a capacity of 78.5 mg g−1 within 6 h, demonstrating its practical viability for environmental remediation.

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Fig. 1: Design of rechargeable microelectrode adsorbent system.
Fig. 2: Design and screening of microelectrode materials.
Fig. 3: Uranium-extraction performance by rechargeable microelectrode adsorbents.
Fig. 4: The proposed reaction mechanism of LFP microelectrode.
Fig. 5: Recovery of extracted uranium and reusability of LFP microelectrode adsorbents.

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Data availability

The main data that supports the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information.

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  • 28 August 2025

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Acknowledgements

This work is jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers 92462301, 52525202, 92262305, 52302225, 52202251, 52461160296), ‘GeoX’ Interdisciplinary Project of Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling (20250106), the New Cornerstone Science Foundation through XPLORER PRIZE, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20233001, BK20243009) and the Project of Laoshan Laboratory (LSKJ2025001600). We acknowledge the micro-fabrication centre of the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures (NLSSM) for technique support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Sustainable Energy and Resources, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Sizhe Chen, Xiaojun Wang, Hongzhi Zheng, Ziwei Wang, Zhichao Lin, Shijia Feng & Jia Zhu

  2. College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Sizhe Chen, Hongzhi Zheng, Ziwei Wang, Zhichao Lin, Shijia Feng & Jia Zhu

  3. Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Xiyang Wang

  4. CNNC Inner Mongolia Mining Co. Ltd., Hohhot, China

    Chuanfei Zhang

  5. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Tao Sun

Authors
  1. Sizhe Chen
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Contributions

J.Z. and Xiaojun Wang conceived the project and designed the experiments. S.C., H.Z., Z.W., Xiyang Wang and Z.L. conducted the synthesis, characterizations and the majority of the experiments. S.C. and S.F. were responsible for device fabrication. C.Z. and T.S. provided critical resources and valuable guidance. S.C., Xiaojun Wang and J.Z. analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to discussions of the results and provided feedback on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaojun Wang or Jia Zhu.

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Nature Water thanks Shaohong Liu, Shengqian Ma and Costas Tsouris for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Chen, S., Wang, X., Zheng, H. et al. Electron-buffering rechargeable microelectrode adsorbents for rapid environmental remediation of uranium-containing wastewater. Nat Water 3, 937–948 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00471-2

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