ABSTRACT Seawater is the largest uranium reserve in the world, and the efficient extraction of uranium from seawater could facilitate the sustainable development of the nuclear industry for

thousands of years. However, conventional extraction processes must suffer the dissociation of CO32− ions from [UO2(CO3)3]4− anions to bind the uranyl core, which has a high energy barrier,

resulting in poor selectivity and long working times. Here we combine a molecular templating strategy to synthesize several hydroxy-rich covalent organic frameworks with tunable nanopore

sizes. In the 1.2-nm-sized covalent organic framework cavity, hydroxyl groups coupled with the hydrogen-bonded NH4+ cations selectively bind uranyl tricarbonate ions via synergistic

adsorbents by a factor of 350%. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your

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subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ULTRA-SELECTIVE URANIUM SEPARATION BY IN-SITU FORMATION OF _Π_-_F_ CONJUGATED 2D

URANIUM-ORGANIC FRAMEWORK Article Open access 11 January 2024 DNA NANO-POCKET FOR ULTRA-SELECTIVE URANYL EXTRACTION FROM SEAWATER Article Open access 11 November 2020

PHOTOISOMERIZATION-MEDIATED TUNABLE PORE SIZE IN METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS FOR U(VI)/V(V) SELECTIVE SEPARATION Article Open access 10 March 2025 DATA AVAILABILITY The main data supporting the

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(2024). Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS G.Z. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2022YFB3805902), the National Natural Science Foundation of China

(grant numbers 22131004 and U21A20330) and the ‘111’ project (grant number B18012). Y. Yuan was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 21975039 and

22322501), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant numbers 2412020ZD008 and GFPY202309) and the CNNC Key Laboratory on Uranium Extraction from Seawater

(KLUES202202). Y. Yang was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52204389). AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * These authors contributed equally: Ye

Yuan, Doudou Cao. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Key Laboratory of Polyoxometalate and Reticular Material Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University,

Changchun, China Ye Yuan, Doudou Cao, Fengchao Cui, Cheng Zhang, Yingbo Song, Yue Zheng, Jiarui Cao & Guangshan Zhu * Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials of Ministry of Education and

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China Yajie Yang * Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy, CNNC Key Laboratory on Uranium

Extraction from Seawater, Beijing, China Shusen Chen, Yan Song & Fengju Wang Authors * Ye Yuan View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Doudou Cao View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Fengchao Cui View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Yajie Yang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Cheng Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Yingbo Song View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yue Zheng View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Jiarui Cao View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Shusen Chen View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yan Song View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Fengju Wang View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Guangshan Zhu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS Y. Yuan and D.C. helped design the

experiments and wrote portions of the paper. D.C. carried out the experiments and performed the data interpretation. F.C., C.Z. and J.C. conducted the theoretical calculations. Y. Yang

helped design the experiments. Yingbo Song, Y.Z., S.C., Yan Song and F.W. performed the characterizations for uranium adsorption. Y. Yuan and G.Z. developed the concept, supervised the

experiments and drafted the paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Guangshan Zhu. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER

REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Water_ thanks Shengqian Ma and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE

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Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Yuan, Y., Cao, D., Cui, F. _et al._ High-capacity uranium extraction from seawater through constructing synergistic multiple

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