Lithium extraction from brine through a decoupled and membrane-free electrochemical cell design

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Li, Zhen; Chen, I-Chun; Cao, Li; Liu, Xiaowei; Huang, Kuo-Wei; Lai, Zhiping
• 署名单位: King Abdullah University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-12200
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adg8487
• 发表日期: 2024-09-27
• 页码: 1438-1444
• 关键词: salinity gradient; aqueous-solutions; li extraction; energy; hydrogen; FUTURE; lifepo4/fepo4; solubility; EVOLUTION; oxygen

摘要

The sustainability of lithium-based energy storage or conversion systems, e.g., lithium-ion batteries, can be enhanced by establishing methods of efficient lithium extraction from harsh brines. In this work, we describe a decoupled membrane-free electrochemical cell that cycles lithium ions between iron-phosphate electrodes and features cathode (brine) and anode (fresh water) compartments that are isolated from each other yet electrochemically connected through a pair of silver/silver-halide redox electrodes. This design is compatible with harsh brines having magnesium/lithium molar ratios of up to 3258 and lithium concentrations down to 0.15 millimolar, enabling the production of battery-grade (>99.95% pure) lithium carbonate. Energy savings of up to similar to 21.5% were realized by efficiently harvesting the osmotic energy of the brines. A pilot-scale cell with an electrode surface area of 33.75 square meters was used to realize lithium extraction from Dead Sea brine with a recovery rate of 84.0%.