Biomimetic mercury immobilization by selenium functionalized polyphenylene sulfide fabric.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38346957.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-45486-7 and PMC identifier 10861514.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Highly efficient decontamination of elemental mercury (Hg<sup>0</sup>) remains an enormous challenge for public health and ecosystem protection. The artificial conversion of Hg<sup>0</sup> into mercury chalcogenides could achieve Hg<sup>0</sup> detoxification and close the global mercury cycle. Herein, taking inspiration from the bio-detoxification of mercury, in which selenium preferentially converts mercury from sulfoproteins to HgSe, we propose a biomimetic approach to enhance the conversion of Hg<sup>0</sup> into mercury chalcogenides. In this proof-of-concept design, we use sulfur-rich polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) as the Hg<sup>0</sup> transporter. The relatively stable, sulfur-linked aromatic rings result in weak adsorption of Hg<sup>0</sup> on the PPS rather than the formation of metastable HgS. The weakly adsorbed mercury subsequently migrates to the adjacent selenium sites for permanent immobilization. The sulfur-selenium pair affords an unprecedented Hg<sup>0</sup> adsorption capacity and uptake rate of 1621.9 mg g<sup>-1</sup> and 1005.6 μg g<sup>-1</sup> min<sup>-1</sup>, respectively, which are the highest recorded values among various benchmark materials. This work presents an intriguing concept for preparing Hg<sup>0</sup> adsorbents and could pave the way for the biomimetic remediation of diverse pollutants.