Advanced Materials and Processes for Uranium Removal from Water: Mechanism, Selectivity and Scalability

Background: Uranium contamination in water from mining, nuclear activities, and wastewater poses serious risks to human health and ecosystems. Traditional techniques lack selectivity in complex matrices, and are not readily scalable.

Aim: This review focuses on advanced materials and processes to remove uranium in water with special focus on mechanism, selectivity and scale. It sheds light on the latest advances in MOFs, COFs, graphene oxide, MXenes, amidoxime-based hydrogels and hierarchical materials.

Methodology: A thorough narrative review was performed through the synthesis of recent peer-reviewed studies (2024-2026) of databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, and Google scholar. Thematic analysis of key studies on material performance, characterization methods (XPS, FTIR, EXAFS), real-water tests, and pilot deployments was performed.

Findings: Advanced materials and processes for uranium removal from water demonstrate that high adsorption capacities (up to 1200 mg/g under laboratory conditions) are primarily governed by coordination/chelation and ion-exchange mechanisms, which underpin both selectivity and uptake efficiency. Materials such as hierarchical triple-channel polyamidoxime hydrogels exhibit notable performance, achieving 14.69 mg/g in natural seawater after 35 days without external energy input, and up to 43.89 mg/g in concentrated brine using PVPA–PAO composites. These systems show strong selectivity for uranium over competing ions and retain performance over multiple reuse cycles (≥5) even as scalability remains a challenge.

Conclusion: Uranium removal and seawater extraction have transformative potential in advanced materials and processes to sustain cleaner water and sustainable nuclear energy. The practical challenges to be addressed using structural engineering and life-cycle assessment will be paramount to large-scale implementation.