Photocatalysis with visible-light-active uranyl complexes

Atomic energy is an important part of current energy resources. Production of nuclear weapons and applications of nuclear fuels in nuclear power plants have accumulated numerous spent fuels containing 238U compounds, which are critical nuclear materials. How to reduce the nuclear wastes and to make use of the spent uranium are key scientific issues of environmental and nuclear science. We have reviewed here the physiochemical properties and photocatalytic mechanisms of homogeneous and heterogeneous uranium-containing materials. The current research efforts demonstrate that spent fuels can become promising new photocatalytic materials.