Uranium extraction from sulfuric acid media with Zr-Metal-Organic Frameworks

Abstract A Zr based Metal-Organic Framework functionalized with an amidophosphonate ligand has been synthesized, characterized and tested toward the uranium extraction in sulfuric acid conditions (representative of uranium leaching from ores). A synthetic method has been developed to obtain the material by an efficient post-synthetic modification technique that allows 95% functionalization of active sites of the precursor material (UiO-68-NH2). This material has revealed to be stable in aggressive conditions ([SO42−] = 1 M, pH = 2) and to extract uranium up to 25 mg g−1, thus showing for the first time the possibility to use these hybrid materials for such an application.