Radiation Unlocks Selective and Efficient Gold Recovery

Radiation Unlocks Selective and Efficient Gold Recovery | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Radiation Unlocks Selective and Efficient Gold Recovery Wei Cao, Yin Liang, Nannan Zeng, Jian Wang, Tianjiao Sun, Zhiwu Yu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8545735/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Gold is a precious metal for many applications, but their scarcity poses a risk of supply disruption. Recovering gold from e-waste provides a promising method, however, traditional metallurgical extraction methods, such as aqua regia leaching and cyanide leaching, suffer from low selectivity, high toxicity, high energy consumption and environmental pollution. Herein, we demonstrate a radiation-mediated selective recovery (RSR) of gold from e-waste and ores. Utilizing the oxidative radiolytic species, complete dissolution of gold was observed for gold powder and gold foil. For CPU boards, 92.0% gold dissolution was attained, whereas the percentages for non-precious metals were low (Cu: 0.01%; Fe: 0.02%; Ni: 0.38%; Zn: 1.94%; Sn: 0.01%). 100% gold dissolution for ores demonstrated its wide applicability. Under industrial electron-beam radiation, RSR can be finished in 2 minutes. The strong penetration capability of radiation enables its application in large-scale, selective recovery of gold from real-world samples, offering significant value for the circular economy and environmental sustainability. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Supramolecular chemistry Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental chemistry/Pollution remediation Physical sciences/Chemistry/Green chemistry/Sustainability Physical sciences/Chemistry/Nuclear chemistry Physical sciences/Physics/Nuclear physics Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. W.C. and Y.L. are listed as inventors on two patent applications: one for "A method for selectively dissolving gold from gold ore using ionizing radiation" (granted), and the other for "A method for selective dissolution of precious metals by ionizing radiation" (under substantive examination). The remaining authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files naturesupplementarymaterials0107.pdf supplementary information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8545735","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":579734636,"identity":"5c79fd63-1104-4d42-9d1d-e2685267d8c2","order_by":0,"name":"Wei Cao","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACA5sEMM1DgpY0krUwHCZBC3/74WMSHwrO55lLJDA+eNvGIG9OSIvEmbQ0yRkGt4stZyQwG85tYzDc2UBAiwFDjtltHoPbiRtuJLBJ87YxJBgcIKSF/43Z7T8G50Ba2H8Tp0UCaAuDwQGwLcxEaZG48Sz9Z49BcrHBmYfNknPOSRhuIKSFvz/5sMGPP3Z5BseTD354U2YjT9AWJMDYALKVePWjYBSMglEwCnADANt/P7Aj7n7DAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5048-7991","institution":"Beijing Normal University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wei","middleName":"","lastName":"Cao","suffix":""},{"id":579734637,"identity":"e1fa4e2b-1f95-4a1b-87f8-5b2f753cc89d","order_by":1,"name":"Yin Liang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yin","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""},{"id":579734638,"identity":"73d686e5-be21-4ce4-9460-8874709ec3b1","order_by":2,"name":"Nannan Zeng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nannan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zeng","suffix":""},{"id":579734639,"identity":"1866c625-d405-4b63-9b6d-ab7e729fa50d","order_by":3,"name":"Jian Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jian","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":579734641,"identity":"92352b53-69a7-4829-9354-246504a30f5e","order_by":4,"name":"Tianjiao Sun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tsinghua University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianjiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""},{"id":579734642,"identity":"2a1fa569-165f-4c92-a88f-30c7ae933d5c","order_by":5,"name":"Zhiwu Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tsinghua University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhiwu","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-08 01:00:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8545735/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8545735/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104401869,"identity":"651a4c60-7e6b-4e55-803c-75551c4511eb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:13:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1485144,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"naturemanuscript0107.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8545735/v1_covered_c4575ebb-8456-4eb9-aa2d-860dbc87d187.pdf"},{"id":101180951,"identity":"9d3179d7-e5ac-417b-8e3f-637d99625680","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-27 04:01:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2016537,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"supplementary information","description":"","filename":"naturesupplementarymaterials0107.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8545735/v1/b5298e5c28c54ce7b6eb422e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nW.C. and Y.L. are listed as inventors on two patent applications: one for \"A method for selectively dissolving gold from gold ore using ionizing radiation\" (granted), and the other for \"A method for selective dissolution of precious metals by ionizing radiation\" (under substantive examination). 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Recovering gold from e-waste provides a promising method, however, traditional metallurgical extraction methods, such as aqua regia leaching and cyanide leaching, suffer from low selectivity, high toxicity, high energy consumption and environmental pollution. Herein, we demonstrate a radiation-mediated selective recovery (RSR) of gold from e-waste and ores. Utilizing the oxidative radiolytic species, complete dissolution of gold was observed for gold powder and gold foil. For CPU boards, 92.0% gold dissolution was attained, whereas the percentages for non-precious metals were low (Cu: 0.01%; Fe: 0.02%; Ni: 0.38%; Zn: 1.94%; Sn: 0.01%). 100% gold dissolution for ores demonstrated its wide applicability. Under industrial electron-beam radiation, RSR can be finished in 2 minutes. 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