Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Nov 14;57(45):17246-17255. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c05935. Epub 2023 Nov 2.
The development of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly lithium extraction techniques is essential to meet the growing global demand for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, a dual-channel ion conductor membrane was designed for a concentration-driven lithium-selective ion diffusion process. The membrane was based on a porous lithium-ion conductor, and its pores were modified with an anion-exchange polymer. Thus, the sintered lithium-ion conductors provided highly selective cation transport channels, and the functionalized nanopores with positive charges enabled the complementary permeation of anions to balance the transmembrane charges. As a result, the dual-channel membrane realized an ultrahigh Li/Na selectivity of ∼1389 with a competitive Li flux of 21.6 mmol·m·h in a diffusion process of the LiCl/NaCl binary solution, which was capable of further maintaining the high selectivity over 7 days of testing. Therefore, this work demonstrates the great potential of the dual-channel membrane design for high-performing lithium extraction from aqueous resources with low energy consumption and minimal environmental impact.
开发节能且环保的锂提取技术对于满足全球对锂离子电池不断增长的需求至关重要。在这项工作中，设计了一种双通道离子导体膜，用于浓度驱动的锂选择性离子扩散过程。该膜基于多孔锂离子导体，其孔用阴离子交换聚合物进行了修饰。因此，烧结的锂离子导体提供了高度选择性的阳离子传输通道，而带正电荷的功能化纳米孔允许阴离子的互补渗透以平衡跨膜电荷。结果，双通道膜在 LiCl/NaCl 二元溶液的扩散过程中实现了超高的 Li/Na 选择性（约为 1389）和具有竞争力的 Li 通量（21.6 mmol·m·h），在 7 天的测试中仍能保持高选择性。因此，这项工作表明，双通道膜设计在低能耗和最小环境影响的情况下，从水溶液中高效提取锂具有巨大的潜力。
