Amidoxime Group‐Anchored Single Cobalt Atoms for Anti‐Biofouling during Uranium Extraction from Seawater

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 9; no. 10; pp. e2105008 - n/a
• Main Authors: Sun, Wenyan, Feng, Lijuan, Zhang, Jiacheng, Lin, Ke, Wang, Hui, Yan, Bingjie, Feng, Tiantian, Cao, Meng, Liu, Tao, Yuan, Yihui, Wang, Ning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2022; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Adsorbents; Adsorption; amidoxime; Antimicrobial agents; anti‐biofouling; Biofouling - prevention & control; Carbon dioxide; Cobalt; Energy industry; Fourier transforms; Microorganisms; Oximes; reactive oxygen species; Seawater; Seawater - chemistry; single atoms; Uranium - chemistry; uranium extraction; amidoxime; single atoms; anti-biofouling; uranium extraction; reactive oxygen species
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202105008

Marine biofouling is one of the most significant challenges hindering practical uranium extraction from seawater. Single atoms have been widely used in catalytic applications because of their remarkable redox property, implying that the single atom is highly capable of catalyzing the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and acts as an anti‐biofouling substance for controlling biofouling. In this study, the Co single atom loaded polyacrylamidoxime (PAO) material, PAO‐Co, is fabricated based on the binding ability of the amidoxime group to uranyl and cobalt ions. Nitrogen and oxygen atoms from the amidoxime group stabilize the Co single atom. The fabricated PAO‐Co exhibits a broad range of antimicrobial activity against diverse marine microorganisms by producing ROS, with an inhibition rate up to 93.4%. The present study is the first to apply the single atom for controlling biofouling. The adsorbent achieves an ultrahigh uranium adsorption capacity of 9.7 mg g−1 in biofouling‐containing natural seawater, which decreased only by 11% compared with that in biofouling‐removed natural seawater. These findings indicate that applying single atoms would be a promising strategy for designing biofouling‐resistant adsorbents for uranium extraction from seawater. Based on the ability of the amidoxime group to bind both uranyl and Co2+ ions, the Co single‐atom‐loaded PAO‐Co material is fabricated for uranium extraction and anti‐biofouling. The PAO‐Co material exhibits a broad range of antimicrobial activity against marine biofouling by producing reactive oxygen species and a high uranium extraction capacity of 9.7 mg g−1 in biofouling‐containing natural seawater.