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

Tasneem Elmakki; Sifani Zavahir; Umme Hafsa; Leena Al-Sulaiti; Zubair Ahmad; Yuan Chen; Hyunwoong Park; Ho Kyong Shon; Yeek-Chia Ho; Dong Suk Han

doi:10.3390/nano13050895

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

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2023 Feb 27;13(5):895. doi: 10.3390/nano13050895.

Authors

Tasneem Elmakki¹, Sifani Zavahir¹, Umme Hafsa¹, Leena Al-Sulaiti², Zubair Ahmad³, Yuan Chen⁴, Hyunwoong Park⁵, Ho Kyong Shon⁶, Yeek-Chia Ho⁷, Dong Suk Han^{1

8}

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.
⁸ Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar.

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.

Keywords: activated carbon; electrochemical ion pumping; lithium recovery; α-LiAlO2.

Grants and funding

NPRP12S-0227-190166/Qatar National Research Fund