Ultrafast and Highly Selective Uranium Extraction from Seawater by Hydrogel-like Spidroin-based Protein Fiber

Abstract

For the practical extraction of uranium from seawater, adsorbents with high adsorption capacity, fast equilibrium rate, high selectivity, and long service life are needed. Herein, a chimeric spidroin-based super uranyl-binding protein (SSUP) fiber was designed by fusing the gene of super uranyl-binding protein (SUP) with the gene of spidroin. SUP endowed the SSUP fiber with high affinity and selectivity to uranium, and spidroin gave the SSUP fiber with high mechanical strength and high reusability. The wet SSUP fiber is a water-rich hydrogel-like structure, which provided abundant hydrophilic intermolecular space for the entrance of uranyl ions, and could accelerate the rate for uranium adsorption. In seawater, the SSUP fiber achieved a breakthrough uranium extraction capacity of 12.33 mg g^-1 with an ultrashort equilibration time of 3.5 days, suggesting that SSUP fiber might be a promising adsorbent for uranium extraction from the natural seawater.

Keywords: artificial spider silk; biomimetic spinning; protein design; seawater; uranium.