Enrichment and encapsulation of uranium with iron nanoparticle.

The ability to recover uranium from water is significant because of its potential applications on nuclear fuel capture and mitigation of nuclear wastes. In this work, a unique nanostructure is presented by which trace level (2.32-882.68 μg/L) uranium can be quickly separated from water and encapsulated at the center of zero-valent iron nanoparticles. Over 90% of the uranium is recovered with 1 g/L nanoparticles in less than 2 min. Near atomic-resolution elemental mapping on the U(VI) intraparticle reactions in a single iron nanoparticle is obtained with aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, which provides direct evidence on U(VI) diffusion, reduction to U(IV), and deposition in the core area.