Chinese chemists have created a membrane that selectively allows certain types of ions to pass while preventing the movement of all other atoms and molecules.
The Information Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences indicates that the use of this carbon nitride-based membrane actively allows lithium ions to pass through and prevents the movement of other similar atoms. That is, its use will make it possible to extract lithium from salt lake water.
Professor Liu Jian says: “The breakthrough we have achieved in creating these membranes opens new horizons for ways to efficiently extract lithium from the surrounding environment. Lithium is one of the most important chemical elements important for humanity’s transition to renewable energy and electric transportation.”
According to him, the innovative membrane is similar in principle to cell membranes and ion channels, which can selectively allow certain types of ions to pass through them and at the same time prevent the movement of all other atoms and molecules. For example, sodium and potassium channels in neurons allow the passage of alkali metal ions from Through it, but do not allow magnesium, calcium and other elements to pass through it.
Based on these visualizations, Chinese scientists attempted to reproduce the structure of these channels within a man-made material consisting of carbon nitride crystals, as well as an amorphous form of a nitrogen-carbon compound. They discovered that both types of this material can be arranged so that within their thickness appear pores 0.3 nanometers in diameter, through which lithium ions pass, but not magnesium and other metals.
The innovators tested the performance of this material in solutions that mimic in their properties salt lake water, which contains large amounts of sodium, magnesium, and other metal ions, in addition to small amounts of lithium atoms. Experiments showed that the carbon nitride-based membranes they created extracted lithium from the “brine solution” very quickly and efficiently even when its concentration was 500 times lower than magnesium ions.
In addition, it became clear to the innovators that the membrane maintained a high level of selectivity and permeability to lithium ions for more than two hundred hours of continuous operation, which indicates the possibility of its use in work. The researchers hope that the membrane will facilitate the extraction of lithium from the environment and reduce the cost of the process.
Enthralling Innovation.
ReplyDelete