Design principles of ion selective nanostructured membranes for the extraction of lithium ions

Amir Razmjou; Mohsen Asadnia; Ehsan Hosseini; Asghar Habibnejad Korayem; Vicki Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13648-7

Design principles of ion selective nanostructured membranes for the extraction of lithium ions

Nat Commun. 2019 Dec 19;10(1):5793. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13648-7.

Authors

Amir Razmjou^{1

2}, Mohsen Asadnia³, Ehsan Hosseini⁴, Asghar Habibnejad Korayem⁴, Vicki Chen^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. amirr@unsw.edu.au.
² Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Biological Science and Technology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. amirr@unsw.edu.au.
³ School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia.
⁴ School of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
⁶ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.

Abstract

It is predicted that the continuously increasing demand for the energy-critical element of lithium will soon exceed its availability, rendering it a geopolitically significant resource. The present work critically reviews recent reports on Li⁺ selective membranes. Particular emphasis has been placed on the basic principles of the materials' design for the development of membranes with nanochannels and nanopores with Li⁺ selectivity. Fundamental and practical challenges, as well as prospects for the targeted design of Li⁺ ion-selective membranes are also presented, with the goal of inspiring future critical research efforts in this scientifically and strategically important field.

Publication types

Review