The global demand for lithium for the creation of batteries and technology has become an issue that science has been warning about for years. The search for rare earths and the extraction of these materials, in addition to having an expiration date, is incredibly polluting, but China has managed to solve both problems.
China’s new device to extract lithium without polluting
With the help of engineers from Nankin University, this study published in Science magazine proposes an alternative capable of obtaining 230,000 billion tons of lithium without polluting the planet and offering a much more economically viable alternative than traditional mines. Instead of searching on land, they will do it in the middle of the sea.
The key lies in a device that, while floating in the water and using solar energy to operate, uses a special membrane that allows filtering lithium ions on a nanometer scale, separating them from other ions. After the process, the lithium is stored inside the device waiting to be collected.
Especially useful in waters where brine offers even more extraction possibilities, the next step of the study is to enlarge the device and conduct large-scale tests to demonstrate its efficiency in the extraction of lithium, and to test the durability of its membrane and storage system.
Image | Lisa36 at Midjourney
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