Efficient and rapid adsorption of thorium by sp2c-COF with one-dimensional regular micropores channels

Thorium, as a potential nuclear fuel for the next generation of thorium-based molten salt reactors, holds significant environmental and economic promise compared to current uranium-based atomic reactors. However, a large amount of thorium-containing wastewater is generated during operation of thorium-based reactors. Therefore, removing Th (IV) from wastewater is a critical step in advancing clean energy, mitigating radioactive contamination, and promoting sustainable nuclear fuel practices. In this research, we successfully synthesized a sp 2 -carbon conjugated organic framework (sp 2 -c-COF) (DFB-TMT COF), which exhibits ultrafast adsorption kinetics (∼3 min), high adsorption capacity (377.35 mg g −1 ), excellent selectivity (K d =4.82×10 3 mL g −1 ) and recycling ability (≥ 90 %) for thorium ions owing its well-organized one-dimensional pore channels with highly chemically stable and abundant nitrogen-containing adsorption sites. These results indicate that DFB-TMT COF is a promising functional adsorbent for the efficient recovery of thorium ions from thorium-containing wastewater.