Heterogeneous asymmetric passable cavities within graphene oxide nanochannels for highly efficient lithium sieving

Abstract

Lithium is a critical energy element that plays a pivotal role in transitions to sustainable energy. Numerous two-dimensional (2D) membranes have been developed to extract Li+ from different resources. However, their Li+ extraction efficacy is not high enough to meet industrial requirements. Here, we introduce an approach that boosts Li+ selectivity of 2D membranes by inducing asymmetricity in the morphology and chemistry of their nanochannels. Our approach provides an opportunity to manipulate cation hydration shells via a sudden change in the nanochannel size. Then, the addition of nucleophilic traps in the nanochannel intersections results in high Li+ selectivity. Our design leads to a new ion transport mechanism named “Energy Surge Baffle” (ESB) that substantially enriches Li+ in the feed by increasing the monovalent/lithium-ion selectivity up to six times that of other graphene oxide-based membranes. Our approach can be extended to other 2D materials, creating a platform for designing advanced membranes.

RAS ID

52036

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

9-15-2022

Volume

538

Funding Information

UTS CPRDF award (PRO20-11072), University of Technology Sydney / Australian Research Council-Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) DE180100688 / Australian Academy of Science, on behalf of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources / Australian Government under the National Innovation and Science Agenda

School

School of Engineering

Grant Number

ARC Number : DE180100688

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Elsevier

Comments

Ahmadi, H., Zakertabrizi, M., Hosseini, E., Cha-Umpong, W., Abdollahzadeh, M., Korayem, A. H., ... & Razmjou, A. (2022). Heterogeneous asymmetric passable cavities within graphene oxide nanochannels for highly efficient lithium sieving. Desalination, 538, 115888.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2022.115888

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.desal.2022.115888