A new generation desalination membrane C2N with synergistic effects of adsorption and photoreduction

JL Wang and T Xu and XH Yu and X Lu and L Ma and J Rong and ZH Liu, DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS, 158, 112702 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.diamond.2025.112702

Filtering and extracting uranium from seawater utilizing reverse osmosis and photocatalytic technologies is an ideal strategy for developing clean nuclear energy. However, a large research gap still exists in terms of the synergistic effect of desalination membranes on the adsorption and photocatalytic reduction of uranium. In recent years, nitrided porous graphene (C2N) synthesized by wet chemical method has attracted extensive attention from its periodic pore structure, coordinable electronic properties. Here, the potential applications of C2N material in desalination are investigated from the perspective of theoretical simulation, and the performance advantages of the material are analyzed by the ingenious combination of C2N effective pore size structure and precise electron arrangement. The results showed that C2N exhibited excellent desalination performance,with >= 95 % salt rejection in the pressure range of 5 to 15 MPa. It exhibited excellent adsorption performance for heavy metal ions, especially for uranium ions, with an adsorption energy value of as high as -10.072 eV. In addition, C2N has a high UV absorption coefficient of up to 1.124 x 105 cm- 1, and efficient reductive extraction of uranium ions as well as effective degradation of organic matter in seawater under light-driven conditions. This study provides references for the new generation of desalination membrane C2N in the extraction and reduction investigations of uranium metal.

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