Actinide-Specific Interfacial Chemistry of Monolayer Coated Mesoporous Ceramics

The objective of this program is to design, synthesize, and evaluate high-efficiency, high capacity sorbent materials capable of selectively sequestering actinides from complex aqueous mixtures. One of the central goals of this project is to understand the fundamental interfacial science required to develop novel mesoporous materials coated with organized monolayers of rationally designed ligands, custom-tailored for binding specific actinide cations. This capability addresses waste management by separation of actinides, a central concern of high-level waste (HLW) and nuclear materials management at several DOE sites