Rationally designed nanotrap structures for efficient separation of rare earth elements over a single step.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38378705.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-45810-1 and PMC identifier 10879098.
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Abstract
Extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from wastewater is essential for the growth and an eco-friendly sustainable economy. However, it is a daunting challenge to separate individual rare earth elements by their subtle differences. To overcome this difficulty, we report a unique REE nanotrap that features dense uncoordinated carboxyl groups and triazole N atoms in a two-fold interpenetrated metal-organic framework (named NCU-1). Notably, the synergistic effect of suitable pore sizes and REE nanotraps in NCU-1 is highly responsive to the size variation of rare-earth ions and shows high selectivity toward light REE. As a proof of concept, Pr/Lu and Nd/Er are used as binary models, which give a high separation factor of SF<sub>Pr/Lu</sub> = 796 and SF<sub>Nd/Er</sub> = 273, demonstrating highly efficient separation over a single step. This ability achieves efficient and selective extraction and separation of REEs from mine tailings, establishing this platform as an important advance for sustainable obtaining high-purity REEs.