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Construction of nitrogen-doped carbon cladding LiMn2O4 film electrode with enhanced stability for electrochemically selective extraction of lithium ions

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Abstract

Reducing the dissolution of Mn from LiMn2O4 (LMO) and enhancing the stability of film electrodes are critical and challenging for Li+ ions selective extraction via electrochemically switched ion exchange technology. In this work, we prepared a nitrogen-doped carbon cladding LMO (C-N@LMO) by polymerization of polypyrrole and high-temperature annealing in the N2 gas to achieve the above purpose. The modified C-N@LMO film electrode exhibited lower Mn dissolution and better cyclic stability than the LMO film electrode. The dissolution ratio of Mn from the C-N@LMO film electrode decreased by 42% compared to the LMO film electrode after 10 cycles. The cladding layer not only acted as a protective layer but also functioned as a conductive shell, accelerating the migration rate of Li+ ions. The intercalation equilibrium time of the C-N@LMO film electrode reached within an hour during the extraction of Li+ ions, which was 33% less compared to the pure LMO film electrode. Meanwhile, the C-N@LMO film electrode retained evident selectivity toward Li+ ions, and the separation factor was 118.38 for Li+ toward Mg2+ in simulated brine. Therefore, the C-N@LMO film electrode would be a promising candidate for the recovery of Li+ ions from salt lakes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U21A20303, 22078217 and U20A20141).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Jiahui Ren, Wenbiao Ma, Xiao Du & Xiaogang Hao

  2. Academia Sinica, Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Group Company Limited, Golmud, 816000, China

    Yongping He, Haidong Sun, Rongzi Zhang & Juan Li

  3. Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China

    Zhong Liu & Jun Li

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  1. Jiahui Ren
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  2. Yongping He
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  5. Juan Li
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  10. Xiaogang Hao
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Correspondence to Xiao Du or Xiaogang Hao.

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Construction of nitrogen-doped carbon cladding LiMn2O4 film electrode with enhanced stability for electrochemically selective extraction of lithium ions

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Ren, J., He, Y., Sun, H. et al. Construction of nitrogen-doped carbon cladding LiMn2O4 film electrode with enhanced stability for electrochemically selective extraction of lithium ions. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 17, 2050–2060 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2343-7

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