Issue 15, 2019

Mechanism unravelling for ultrafast and selective 99TcO4 uptake by a radiation-resistant cationic covalent organic framework: a combined radiological experiment and molecular dynamics simulation study

Abstract

99Tc is one of the most problematic fission products in the nuclear fuel cycle owing to its large inventory in used nuclear fuel, long half-life, potential radiation hazard, high environmental mobility of its major species 99TcO4, and its redox-active nature. Ideally, 99TcO4 should be removed at the first stage, when the used fuel rods are dissolved in highly concentrated nitric acid solution, which can substantially reduce its interference with the solvent extraction process through catalytic redox reactions with the key actinides and diminish the chance of discharge into the environment as the volatile species during the waste vitrification process. However, this task cannot be achieved by any of the reported anion-scavenging materials including traditional polymeric anion-exchange resins, inorganic cationic framework materials, and recently developed cationic metal–organic framework materials, because they either are not stable under the extreme conditions of the combined high acidity and strong radiation field or do not possess the required uptake selectivity towards 99TcO4 in the presence of a huge excess of competing anions such as NO3 and SO42−. Herein, we present the first study of 99TcO4 removal under extreme conditions by a two-dimensional conjugated cationic covalent organic framework material, SCU-COF-1. This material exhibits ultrahigh acid stability, great resistance towards both large-dose β and γ irradiation and unprecedented 99TcO4 uptake capabilities including extremely fast sorption kinetics (sorption equilibrium can be reached within 1 min), ultrahigh uptake capacity (702.4 mg g−1 for the surrogate ReO4 at a slightly elevated temperature), and good anion-exchange selectivity towards 99TcO4. These excellent features endow SCU-COF-1 with the practical capabilities of separating 99TcO4 from both simulant highly acidic fuel reprocessing solutions (3 M nitric acid) and low-activity waste streams at the US legacy nuclear site. The anion-exchange mechanism and the 99TcO4 uptake selectivity are further demonstrated and clearly visualized by the molecular dynamics simulation investigations.

Graphical abstract: Mechanism unravelling for ultrafast and selective 99TcO4− uptake by a radiation-resistant cationic covalent organic framework: a combined radiological experiment and molecular dynamics simulation study

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
12 Jän 2019
Accepted
19 Feb 2019
First published
19 Feb 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 4293-4305

Mechanism unravelling for ultrafast and selective 99TcO4 uptake by a radiation-resistant cationic covalent organic framework: a combined radiological experiment and molecular dynamics simulation study

L. He, S. Liu, L. Chen, X. Dai, J. Li, M. Zhang, F. Ma, C. Zhang, Z. Yang, R. Zhou, Z. Chai and S. Wang, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 4293 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC00172G

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