Fully biobased and robust antibacterial cellulose aerogel for uranium extraction

Bin Qing; Dongmei Xu; Min Li; Wei Gao; Lingling Sun; Qinghui Shou; Xiangfeng Liang; Huizhou Liu

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.140207

Fully biobased and robust antibacterial cellulose aerogel for uranium extraction

Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 Apr:299:140207. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.140207. Epub 2025 Jan 21.

Authors

Bin Qing¹, Dongmei Xu², Min Li³, Wei Gao⁴, Lingling Sun⁵, Qinghui Shou⁶, Xiangfeng Liang⁴, Huizhou Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China; Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.
² College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China. Electronic address: xudongmei.cn@163.com.
³ Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: limin@qibebt.ac.cn.
⁴ Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.
⁵ College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China.
⁶ Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China. Electronic address: shouqh@qibebt.ac.cn.

PMID: 39848387
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.140207

Abstract

Developing efficient adsorbent is imperative for the utilization of uranium resources in seawater. Marine microorganisms and bacteria play an important role in the process of adsorption of uranium. In this work, a completely bio-based antimicrobial aerogel (quaternary cellulose/chitosan aerogel-QCNF/CS) was prepared by cross-linking quaternary cellulose nanofibers (QCNF) and chitosan (CS) via citric acid (CA). The QCNF/CS aerogel has a high adsorption capacity of 565.97 mg g¹, high selectivity (K_d = 1.6 × 10⁴ mL g^-1). Moreover, the incorporation of CS improved the mechanical properties and enhanced the shape recovery property. The adsorption system reached equilibrium within 300 min and had good recovery of 93 % for UO₂²⁺. After seven cycles of adsorption-desorption, QCNF/CS aerogel still maintained its original structure and retained 80.7 % of its initial adsorption capacity. The introduction of quaternary ammonium salt groups gives the QCNF/CS aerogel strong antimicrobial activity, and the inhibition rate can be up to 96 %. The aerogel also showed good adsorption performance in spiked natural seawater. DFT results and XPS analysis further indicated that -COOH of CA and -OH of CNF functional groups could enhance the adsorption capacity of QCNF/CS aerogel. Therefore, QCNF/CS aerogel was a potential adsorbent for the extraction of uranium from seawater.

Keywords: Antibacterial; Cellulose aerogel; Chitosan; Quaternization; Uranium adsorption.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / chemistry
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / pharmacology
Cellulose* / chemistry
Chitosan / chemistry
Gels / chemistry
Nanofibers / chemistry
Seawater / chemistry
Uranium* / chemistry
Uranium* / isolation & purification

Substances

Uranium
Cellulose
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Gels
Chitosan