Porous Metal Phosphonates and Their Application in Separation of Light Actinides

The separation of light actinides plays an important role in the fields of nuclear industry, environmental radiochemistry, nuclear forensics, etc. Solid phase extraction(SPE) is one of the main methods for the separation of light actinides, and the key of this method is to select adsorbents with excellent adsorption performance and good physicochemical stability. Porous metal phosphonates are a kind of inorganic-organic hybrid materials combined of metal centers and organic phosphonic acid ligands. Generally, they exhibit high specific surface area, abundant active sites and good physicochemical stability, as well as excellent adsorption properties due to the outstanding binding ability of phosphonic groups to light actinides. Therefore, they are expected to be used as adsorbents for light actinides. In this review, the synthesis and structure of porous metal phosphonates are summarized, and their application in the separation of light actinides is focused, including the adsorption properties, adsorption mechanism, the physiochemical stability and practical treatment methods of these materials, etc. In the end, the development of this field is prospected.