He Pengbing, Xie Qionghua, Wang Jinyu, Yao Guocheng, Wang Liangshi
National Engineering Research Center for Environment-friendly Metallurgy in Producing Premium Non-ferrous Metals, China GRINM Group Corporation Limited, Beijing, 100088, China.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, P.R. China.
Chemphyschem. 2025 May 5;26(9):e202400999. doi: 10.1002/cphc.202400999. Epub 2025 Feb 23.
Stabilized lithium isotopes (Li, Li) play an important role in related fields such as energy and defense. With the advancement of nuclear technology, the demand for lithium isotopes is expected to increase significantly. Although the separation of lithium amalgam is effective, it poses greater pollution risks. Therefore, it is very important to establish an efficient, green and sustainable lithium isotope separation method. Lithium isotopes are extremely difficult to isolate, but the discovery of their differences in migration (diffusion) rates, optical excitation, magnetic field response, and chemical binding has enable their potential separation lithium isotopes. Among the various lithium isotope separation methods developed, electrochemical migration stands out as a technique with industrial potential due to its high single-stage separation factor. Hence, this paper focuses on the research progress of lithium isotope separation methods with significant industrial potential. It elucidates the merits and challenges of various techniques, explores key obstacles to their industrialization. Finally, a method for separating lithium isotopes using solid electrolytes is described in the context of lithium-ion battery technology and related research on lithium isotope separation. Despite being in its infancy, this method warrants further research and experimentation.
稳定锂同位素（Li、Li）在能源和国防等相关领域发挥着重要作用。随着核技术的进步，对锂同位素的需求预计将大幅增加。虽然汞齐法分离锂同位素是有效的，但它带来了更大的污染风险。因此，建立一种高效、绿色且可持续的锂同位素分离方法非常重要。锂同位素极难分离，但它们在迁移（扩散）速率、光激发、磁场响应和化学键合方面差异的发现，使得锂同位素的潜在分离成为可能。在已开发的各种锂同位素分离方法中，电化学迁移因其高单级分离系数而成为具有工业潜力的技术。因此，本文重点关注具有显著工业潜力的锂同位素分离方法的研究进展。阐述了各种技术的优点和挑战，探讨了它们工业化的关键障碍。最后，在锂离子电池技术和锂同位素分离相关研究的背景下，描述了一种使用固体电解质分离锂同位素的方法。尽管该方法尚处于起步阶段，但值得进一步研究和试验。
