Nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous bio-scaffold with a coordination-active interface for superior pertechnetate (TcO(4)(-)) sequestration.

Nitrogen-doped architected super-porous bio-scaffold (NASB) from Alocasia macrorrhiza stems adsorbs pertechnetate (TcO4−) rapidly and preferentially, including under a 100-fold NO3− excess.

• Why it matters: Pertechnetate is long-lived and highly mobile, and its removal from radioactive wastewater is difficult when competing anions like nitrate are present.
• What they did: The team prepared NASB via nitrogen doping of a biomass-derived porous scaffold and measured TcO4− uptake kinetics (pseudo-second-order) and selectivity under NO3− competition, supported by spectroscopy and theoretical calculations.
• The result: TcO4− sequestration is mainly linked to enhanced site accessibility, with nitrogen doping remodeling interfacial electronic structure and strengthening binding; graphitic N shows the most favorable adsorption energy of −48.273 kJ/mol.

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