Multifunctional Eutectic Mixtures Enable Integrated Recovery of U, Pu, and Sr From Nuclear Waste

Addressing the challenges of nuclear waste management and strategic resource recovery necessitates novel functional materials for the integrated and efficient capture of critical elements. This work reports a class of multifunctional eutectic mixtures (EMs) constructed from crown ether (hydrogen-bond acceptor, HBA) and partially esterified organophosphorus acids (hydrogen-bond donor, HBD). This design integrates the high selectivity of crown ether toward Sr(II) with the strong affinity of organophosphorus ligands for U(VI)/Pu(IV), achieving unprecedented single-step extraction efficiencies exceeding 99.9% for U(VI), 99.8% for Pu(IV), and 99% for Sr(II) under extreme and nearly realistic conditions. This exceptional performance originates from the differentiated metal coordination of crown ether and phosphoric esters, coupled with a synergistic “coordination-encapsulation” effect mediated by the formation of reverse micellar supramolecular structures. Our findings not only provide high-performance materials for the simultaneous recovery of critical radionuclides but also demonstrate the great potential of EMs as a sustainable platform for addressing complex separation scenarios.