Electrified cloth was able to extract uranium from ordinary seawater

A team of researchers from China’s Northeastern University of Education has created an electrochemical method aimed at extracting uranium from simple seawater, which could potentially help provide mankind with an endless supply of energy.

It is noted that uranium extraction is far from being a new idea, and previously scientists have used polymer mats, conductive fibers and other methods for this purpose. Specialists from China, in turn, developed a flexible fabric sewn from carbon fibers with two special monomers and treated with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The researchers explained that the porous fabric creates tiny pockets for amidoxime, which performs the trapping of uranyl ions.