Morton Logan D, Scheel Ryan A, Sahoo Jugal Kishore, Gilbert Julian B, Cotruvo Joseph A, Jiao Yongqin, Park Dan M, Kaplan David L
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2025 Jul 14;11(7):4076-4086. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5c00382. Epub 2025 Jun 25.
The extraction of rare-earth elements (REEs) from low-grade sources like electronic waste (E-waste) could supplement current unsustainable mining practices. REEs are crucial for various industries, but supply struggles to meet growing demand. Herein, we present an environmentally friendly method for REE extraction using silk protein sponges functionalized with lanmodulin (LanM), a protein that selectively binds REEs. These sponges are relatively facile to fabricate and scale, while offering highly selective REE binding. The REEs can then be recovered via simple acid leaching, allowing sponge reuse for multiple cycles as well as specific desorption of different REEs by changing the pH of the desorption buffer. This method avoids harmful solvents used in traditional extraction and enables recycling of REEs from industrial and E-waste.
从电子垃圾（电子废弃物）等低品位来源中提取稀土元素（REEs）可以补充当前不可持续的采矿做法。稀土元素对各个行业都至关重要，但供应难以满足不断增长的需求。在此，我们提出一种使用用镧调蛋白（LanM）功能化的丝蛋白海绵来提取稀土元素的环保方法，镧调蛋白是一种能选择性结合稀土元素的蛋白质。这些海绵相对易于制造和扩大规模，同时具有高度选择性的稀土元素结合能力。然后可以通过简单的酸浸出回收稀土元素，使海绵能够重复使用多个循环，并且通过改变解吸缓冲液的pH值实现不同稀土元素的特异性解吸。这种方法避免了传统提取中使用的有害溶剂，并能够从工业和电子废弃物中回收稀土元素。
