BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A team of Chinese researchers have developed a new type of membrane to extract uranium from seawater or salt lake water, shedding light on wastewater treatment and rare metal recovery.

According to a study paper recently published on the journal Advanced Materials, researchers from Lanzhou University invented a two-dimensional biomimetic membrane constructed by charge assembly and hydrogen bonding. This membrane has demonstrated outstanding performance in precise uranyl ion separation, reported the Science and Technology Daily on Thursday.

Uranium is a key resource in the nuclear industry. For a long period of time, China has faced a shortage of uranium ore resources. Although the country's seawater and salt lakes contain a large amount of low-concentration uranyl ions, the process of extracting these ions economically and effectively remains challenging.

In recent years, two-dimensional materials such as graphene oxide have become the focus of ion separation technology. However, graphene oxide membranes are prone to structural damage under high pressure or after prolonged use.

Inspired by the natural ability of plant cell walls to reorganize into stronger and denser structures under pressure, the research team combined graphene oxide with engineered bacteria to construct a dense and stable two-dimensional biomimetic membrane.

The study results show that the new membrane not only increases the mechanical strength by more than 12 times compared to original graphene oxide membranes but also achieves precise capture of uranyl ions.

Li Zhan, the corresponding author of the paper, said that this achievement provides an efficient and sustainable method for extracting uranium from seawater.

According to Tian Longlong, another member of the team, this new membrane shows the advantage of high selectivity and stability, as well as low energy consumption, which is expected to promote the industrialization of uranium resource recovery.

The team is still optimizing the membrane structure design and large-scale production processes to accelerate the application of the technology.

Lanzhou University said this technology also has a broad application prospect in fields such as water treatment, wastewater recycling, and energy recovery. It can help address global issues such as resource shortages, energy crises and environmental pollution.