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Novel LiAlO2 Material for Scalable and Facile Lithium Recovery Using Electrochemical Ion Pumping

Elmakki T 1 , Zavahir S 1 , Hafsa U 1 , Al-Sulaiti L 2 , Ahmad Z 3 , Chen Y 4 Show all authors , Park H 5 , Shon HK 6 , Ho YC 7 , Han DS 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar
  • 2 Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar
  • 3 Qatar University Young Scientists Center (QUYSC), Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar
  • 4 School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
  • 5 School of Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
  • 6 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
  • 7 Centre for Urban Resource Sustainability, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Malaysia
Nanomaterials (Basel), 2023 Feb 27;13(5).
PMID: 36903773 DOI: 10.3390/nano13050895

Abstract

In this study, α-LiAlO2 was investigated for the first time as a Li-capturing positive electrode material to recover Li from aqueous Li resources. The material was synthesized using hydrothermal synthesis and air annealing, which is a low-cost and low-energy fabrication process. The physical characterization showed that the material formed an α-LiAlO2 phase, and electrochemical activation revealed the presence of AlO2* as a Li deficient form that can intercalate Li+. The AlO2*/activated carbon electrode pair showed selective capture of Li+ ions when the concentrations were between 100 mM and 25 mM. In mono salt solution comprising 25 mM LiCl, the adsorption capacity was 8.25 mg g-1, and the energy consumption was 27.98 Wh mol Li-1. The system can also handle complex solutions such as first-pass seawater reverse osmosis brine, which has a slightly higher concentration of Li than seawater at 0.34 ppm.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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