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Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a light-powered micromotor that navigates water, captures uranium ions, and could open a new route to explore the 4.5 billion tons dissolved in the ocean, although the technology still faces scaling challenges.
Uranium extraction from seawater has achieved a new breakthrough with Chinese-led researchers creating a light-powered micromotor capable of navigating water and actively capturing ions of the fuel used in nuclear reactors.
Uranium extraction advances with light-powered micromotor
The technology was developed by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes. The system uses a metal-organic framework, known as MOF, capable of converting light into motion and acting as a self-propelled micro-scale collector.
Uranium remains an essential fuel for nuclear reactors. Although there are about 4.5 billion tons dissolved in seawater, the extremely low concentration has always made extraction technically complex and economically unfeasible.
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At the bottom of the South Pole ice, the IceCube observatory drilled more than a kilometer and a half of ice to hunt ghost particles and test whether gravity obeys the rules of quantum physics.
The search for solutions in the ocean is directly related to the expansion of China’s nuclear capacity. As the country still depends on imports, ensuring a stable supply of uranium has become a strategic priority for Beijing.
Porous particles move in water and capture ions
On a microscopic scale, the team produced sponge-like porous particles, about 2 micrometers in diameter. They are much thinner than a human hair and had their internal chemical composition adjusted to maintain long-term stability in aqueous environments.
These particles function as micromotors. When exposed to small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, they generate propulsion and move through water at about 7 micrometers per second, replacing passive diffusion with active navigation.
Exposure to light increases the system’s performance. Under this condition, the particles accelerate, almost doubling their speed and gaining a solar-powered boost, which reinforces the material’s potential as an active collector.
In laboratory tests, the micromotors demonstrated high efficiency in extracting uranium from water. The material captured up to 406 milligrams per gram, and the uranium was converted into a stable mineralized form, facilitating separation and safe storage.
Technology attempts to overcome limits of traditional adsorbents
The new system differs from conventional adsorbents because it does not rely solely on passive contact with uranium ions. Instead of remaining stationary, the micromotor navigates through the water to locate and capture the material.
Yongquan Zhou, leader of the research team, stated that previous work with light-powered micromotors did not have a specific focus on uranium extraction. The underlying technology already existed, but its application in this field remained relatively unexplored.
Autonomous behavior is one of the central points of the advance. Powered by light, the micromotor moves on its own and offers a more energy-efficient approach, as well as being more environmentally suitable than traditional, static materials.
In controlled experiments, researchers also recorded emergent behaviors similar to biological predator-prey dynamics. When active micromotors were combined with passive colloidal particles, patterns resembling hunting, escape, and coordinated swarm movement emerged.
These interactions changed as the fuel concentration was altered. The result reinforced the complexity of the micro-scale system and showed that active movement can directly influence how particles interact in the aqueous environment.
Research still faces scaling challenges
Much of the experimental work was conducted by Ikram Muhammad. For Zhou, the concept could also be expanded in the future to recover other strategic elements, such as rubidium and cesium.
Despite promising initial results, the technology is still in its early stages. Practical application depends on further research, engineering improvements, and solutions to scale the system beyond laboratory tests.
High-salinity environments, such as salt lakes, still limit the operation of micromotors. This obstacle keeps uranium extraction by active micromotors as a developing technology, with relevant potential, but still far from widespread use.
With information from South China Morning Post.
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