Abstract

Lithium is a critical metal with a wide range of applications in energy, electronics, and chemical industry. Currently, the industrial method for Li metal extraction relies on electrolysis of molten LiCl and suffers from various safety, cost, and environmental issues. In this work, we report electrochemical extraction of Li from molten LiOH by using a liquid tin (Sn) cathode. The use of liquid Sn cathode offers various advantages, such as lowering the dissociation potential of LiOH and easy collection of the metallic Li. Electrochemical and materials characterization results reveal that a plunge of electrolysis current occurs in the electrolyser without using a porous alumina membrane, due to the formation of a Li₂O passivation layer at the cathode/electrolyte interface. In the electrolyser with a porous alumina membrane, continuous electrolysis has been achieved, and the side surface of the liquid Sn is identified to be the effective interface for Li electrodeposition. In addition, we demonstrate the use of the Li–Sn product for the synthesis of acetylene (C₂H₂), a widely used fuel and chemical feedstock.

Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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液态锡阴极从熔融LiOH中提取锂

摘要

锂是至关重要的金属，在能源，电子和化学工业中具有广泛的应用。当前，用于提取锂金属的工业方法依赖于熔融LiCl的电解，并且存在各种安全性，成本和环境问题。在这项工作中，我们报告通过使用液态锡（Sn）阴极从熔融的LiOH中电化学提取Li。液体Sn阴极的使用提供了各种优点，例如降低了LiOH的离解电势和易于收集金属Li。电化学和材料表征结果表明，由于Li ₂的形成，在不使用多孔氧化铝膜的情况下，电解槽中发生了电解电流下降。阴极/电解质界面处的O钝化层。在具有多孔氧化铝膜的电解槽中，已经实现了连续电解，并且已确定液体Sn的侧面是Li电沉积的有效界面。此外，我们证明了Li-Sn产物用于乙炔（C ₂ H ₂）的合成，乙炔是一种广泛使用的燃料和化学原料。

图形概要