biostudies-literatureWang ZNatural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (Beijing Natural Science Foundation)National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)261https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9845371biostudies-literatureUnknown14(1)Separation of actinides from lanthanides is of great importance for the safe management of nuclear waste and sustainable development of nuclear energy, but it represents a huge challenge due to the chemical complexity of these f-elements. Herein, we report an efficient separation strategy based on ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane. In the presence of a strong oxidizing reagent, the actinides (U, Np, Pu, Am) in a nitric acid solution exist in the high valent and linear dioxo form of actinyl ions while the lanthanides (Ce, Nd, Eu, Gd, etc.) remain as trivalent/tetravalent spheric ions. A task-specific graphene oxide membrane with an interlayer nanochannel spacing between the sizes of hydrated actinyl ions and lanthanides ions is tailored and used as an ionic cut-off filter, which blocksNature communicationsIon sieving in graphene oxide membrane enables efficient actinides/lanthanides separation.PMC9845371JQ20041220060902197610421790372Qing QDong XChen JLu YXu CHuang LWu TWang ZfalseIon sieving in graphene oxide membrane enables efficient actinides/lanthanides separation.Separation of actinides from lanthanides is of great importance for the safe management of nuclear waste and sustainable development of nuclear energy, but it represents a huge challenge due to the chemical complexity of these f-elements. Herein, we report an efficient separation strategy based on ion sieving in graphene oxide membrane. In the presence of a strong oxidizing reagent, the actinides (U, Np, Pu, Am) in a nitric acid solution exist in the high valent and linear dioxo form of actinyl ions while the lanthanides (Ce, Nd, Eu, Gd, etc.) remain as trivalent/tetravalent spheric ions. A task-specific graphene oxide membrane with an interlayer nanochannel spacing between the sizes of hydrated actinyl ions and lanthanides ions is tailored and used as an ionic cut-off filter, which blocks2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Jan2025-04-19T12:35:47.048Z2025-04-19T12:35:47.048ZS-EPMC98453713665014810.1038/s41467-023-35942-1