High efficiency gold extraction by 2D metallic 1T/1T′ phase transition metal dichalcogenides
Abstract
Recovery of precious metals from waste has high social and economic value, but in practice, recycling is often inefficient due to limits in technologies and materials. Here we show a group of materials-two-dimensional (2D) metallic 1 T/1 T′ phase transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs, MoS 2 , WS 2 , TaS 2 , and TiS 2 )-that allows for efficient, selective, and scalable extraction of valuable gold (Au) from leaching solutions of end-of-life electronics. The materials exhibit rapid kinetics, delivering an impressive 99.99% extraction efficiency of Au 3+ in merely 0.25 min. Furthermore, they showcase strong selectivity for Au 3+ adsorption, featuring a distribution coefficient (K d ) 5-6 orders of magnitude higher than that of other competitive cations (Cu 2+ , K + , Ni 2+ , Na + , Zn 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ ). Amongst, TiS 2 exhibits an unprecedented extraction capacity of 9093 mg⋅g -1 toward Au 3+ , which is approximately 1 order of magnitude higher than most other benchmark adsorbents (silver-organic frameworks). Importantly, through batch production of TiS 2 nanosheets (5 g) and subsequent membranes fabrication for gold extraction, we demonstrated 0.15 g gold (23.8 Karat) recovery by treating 30 discarded central processing units (CPUs). Our work provides a foundation for the efficient and selective recovery of highvalue metals from waste, contributing to a sustainable and circular economy.
Global E-waste Monitor 2020 expects a substantial surge in global electronic waste (e-waste) from 9 million tons in 2020 to 75 million tons by 2030 1 . E-waste still contains metals (gold, for example) 2,3 that are often critical elements with high economic value. Their recycling is thus critical to a circular economy 4-10 . Typically, the high-value metals can be precipitated from the leaching solutions of e-waste by adding chemicals or selectively extracted using a more soluble solvent 11-13 . The target metals can also be selectively adsorbed by an adsorbent or ion exchange resin 14 . Selective associations with a carrier molecule in liquid membranes or electrochemical reduction and deposition onto
Related
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- Hunting the Enhanced Interaction of Donors with Post-Transition and Transition Metal Dichalcogenides: Comparative Study of NO ₂ , H ₂ S, NH ₃ , and Aniline Adsorption on MoS ₂ , SnS ₂ , and ZrS ₂ Monolayers
- Toward Environmentally Stable Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides: Defect-Selective Docking of Au Nanoparticles on MoS2, MoSe2, and MoTe2
BibTeX
@article{mei2026high,
title = {{High efficiency gold extraction by 2D metallic 1T/1T′ phase transition metal dichalcogenides}},
author = {Liang Mei and Mingzi Sun and Ruijie Yang and Ting Ying and Ruixin Yan and Weikang Zheng and Yue Zhang and Honglu Hu and Damien Voiry and Kenneth M Y Leung and Chuyang Y Tang and Bolong Huang and Shihong Lin and Zhiyuan Zeng},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-75803-1},
url = {https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-05784347v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - High efficiency gold extraction by 2D metallic 1T/1T′ phase transition metal dichalcogenides
AU - Liang Mei
AU - Mingzi Sun
AU - Ruijie Yang
AU - Ting Ying
AU - Ruixin Yan
AU - Weikang Zheng
AU - Yue Zhang
AU - Honglu Hu
AU - Damien Voiry
AU - Kenneth M Y Leung
AU - Chuyang Y Tang
AU - Bolong Huang
AU - Shihong Lin
AU - Zhiyuan Zeng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/29
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-75803-1
UR - https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-05784347v1
AB - Recovery of precious metals from waste has high social and economic value, but in practice, recycling is often inefficient due to limits in technologies and materials. Here we show a group of materials-two-dimensional (2D) metallic 1 T/1 T′ phase transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs, MoS 2 , WS 2 , TaS 2 , and TiS 2 )-that allows for efficient, selective, and scalable extraction of valuable gold (Au) from leaching solutions of end-of-life electronics. The materials exhibit rapid kinetics, delivering an impressive 99.99% extraction efficiency of Au 3+ in merely 0.25 min. Furthermore, they showcase strong selectivity for Au 3+ adsorption, featuring a distribution coefficient (K d ) 5-6 orders of magnitude higher than that of other competitive cations (Cu 2+ , K + , Ni 2+ , Na + , Zn 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ ). Amongst, TiS 2 exhibits an unprecedented extraction capacity of 9093 mg⋅g -1 toward Au 3+ , which is approximately 1 order of magnitude higher than most other benchmark adsorbents (silver-organic frameworks). Importantly, through batch production of TiS 2 nanosheets (5 g) and subsequent membranes fabrication for gold extraction, we demonstrated 0.15 g gold (23.8 Karat) recovery by treating 30 discarded central processing units (CPUs). Our work provides a foundation for the efficient and selective recovery of highvalue metals from waste, contributing to a sustainable and circular economy. Global E-waste Monitor 2020 expects a substantial surge in global electronic waste (e-waste) from 9 million tons in 2020 to 75 million tons by 2030 1 . E-waste still contains metals (gold, for example) 2,3 that are often critical elements with high economic value. Their recycling is thus critical to a circular economy 4-10 . Typically, the high-value metals can be precipitated from the leaching solutions of e-waste by adding chemicals or selectively extracted using a more soluble solvent 11-13 . The target metals can also be selectively adsorbed by an adsorbent or ion exchange resin 14 . Selective associations with a carrier molecule in liquid membranes or electrochemical reduction and deposition onto
SN - 2041-1723
SN - 2041-1723
ER -