STEM与日常科技·英语30篇（6）

4 / 30

科学家如何筛选从海水中提取铀的吸附材料

Seawater holds about 4.5 billion tons of uranium—enough to power reactors for thousands of years.
But its concentration is extremely low: just 3.3 parts per trillion, mixed among many competing ions like sodium and calcium.
Effective adsorbents must bind uranium strongly while ignoring these far more abundant elements.
Scientists test polymer fibers coated with amidoxime groups, which chemically ‘recognize’ uranium’s unique shape and charge.
They run seawater through lab columns packed with candidate materials and measure how much uranium sticks after days or weeks.
Real-world tests happen offshore, where fibers hang in mesh bags for months to assess durability and fouling resistance.
X-ray spectroscopy confirms whether uranium bonds are stable—or break down due to salt corrosion or biofilm growth.
Cost matters too: ideal materials regenerate cleanly after acid washing, allowing reuse for five or more cycles.
Japan and China lead field trials, aiming for extraction costs below $300 per kilogram—competitive with mining.
This work merges chemistry, oceanography, and materials engineering to unlock a vast, renewable nuclear fuel source.