Review demonstrates strategies to enhance uranium extraction using three-dimensional porous materials, indicating key pathways to secure sustainable nuclear fuel.
The escalating demand of global energy, driven by population growth and rapid industrialization, has underscored the limitations of traditional fossil fuels due to their finite availability and environmental pollution. Nuclear energy, as a sustainable low-carbon alternative, has gained increasing attention, elevating the strategic importance of uranium as a critical fuel resource. With uranium reserves in seawater estimated to be approximately 1000 times greater than terrestrial deposits, the development of efficient uranium extraction technologies from seawater holds immense significance for securing long-term nuclear fuel supply. Three-dimensional (3D) porous materials, including graphene oxide (GO) aerogels, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), hydrogels, and porous polymers, have emerged as promising candidates for uranium extraction, owing to their unique structural advantages and surface chemistry. This review comprehensively summarizes recent advancements in 3D porous materials for uranium extraction, highlighting key strategies to enhance adsorption performance, reusability and anti-fouling properties. We further analyze the fundamental challenges faced by 3D porous materials in seawater and provide a forward-looking perspective. By systematically evaluating existing studies, this work not only offers theoretical insights for designing high-performance 3D porous materials for uranium extraction, but also presents innovative solutions to address the global demand for sustainable uranium resources.
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Li et al. (2025) studied this question.
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