Scholarlink

<p>Water contamination and the resource scarcity of precious metals pose pressing environmental challenges, making sustainable recovery from secondary sources an attractive alternative to conventional mining. Yet, progress has been hindered by low adsorption capacities and the irreversible loss of active binding sites. Here we introduce a photochemical regeneration strategy that embeds a phenol–quinone redox cycle into a photoactive nanocarbon aerogel, enabling continuous recovery through light-driven electron transfer and proton-coupled redox cycling. This design repeatedly captures and releases precious metals, achieving ultrahigh adsorption (~15,925.5 mg g<sup>−1</sup> for Au), greatly extended lifespan (&gt;250 h) and broad applicability across diverse metals (Au, Ag, Pt and Pd) and concentrations (0.6 ppb to 1,000 ppm). Compared with state-of-the-art materials, it achieves over threefold higher capacity and a tenfold longer operational lifetime, while simultaneously reducing electricity and reagent consumption by 88.4% and 97.7%, respectively. Demonstrations in industrial waste (for example, central processing unit leachates) and natural seawater validate this approach as a practical, scalable and sustainable solution for precious metal recovery in real-world circular economy applications.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

In situ photo-regenerative phenolic interface for continuous precious metal recovery

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月6日

查看全文
  • Xuemin Chen,
  • Qi-Zhi Zhong,
  • Zeyu Qian,
  • Lam Bang Thanh Nguyen,
  • Jaslyn Ru Ting Chen,
  • Emily Xi Tan,
  • Keteng Wang,
  • Fan Song,
  • Joseph J. Richardson,
  • Yan Lv,
  • Xing Yi Ling,
  • Tianxi Liu

摘要

Water contamination and the resource scarcity of precious metals pose pressing environmental challenges, making sustainable recovery from secondary sources an attractive alternative to conventional mining. Yet, progress has been hindered by low adsorption capacities and the irreversible loss of active binding sites. Here we introduce a photochemical regeneration strategy that embeds a phenol–quinone redox cycle into a photoactive nanocarbon aerogel, enabling continuous recovery through light-driven electron transfer and proton-coupled redox cycling. This design repeatedly captures and releases precious metals, achieving ultrahigh adsorption (~15,925.5 mg g−1 for Au), greatly extended lifespan (>250 h) and broad applicability across diverse metals (Au, Ag, Pt and Pd) and concentrations (0.6 ppb to 1,000 ppm). Compared with state-of-the-art materials, it achieves over threefold higher capacity and a tenfold longer operational lifetime, while simultaneously reducing electricity and reagent consumption by 88.4% and 97.7%, respectively. Demonstrations in industrial waste (for example, central processing unit leachates) and natural seawater validate this approach as a practical, scalable and sustainable solution for precious metal recovery in real-world circular economy applications.