Synthesis and characterization of a state-of-the-art PIM for lithium ion separation

Lithium ion has various applications in medical, pharmaceutical, and nuclear industries. To fulfill separation and enrichment of Li+, an innovative state-of-the-art PIM has been prepared including three main components as: CA as a base polymer, BMIMCl (an ionic liquid) as a plasticizer, and 12-crown-4 as a carrier. Effects of various constituing components of the membrane on its performance were investigated. Once CA, ionic liquid, and crown ether with ratios of 0.3, 0.46, and 0.24 were used and the performance of the membrane was resulted. The membrane adsorped no ion confirmed by ICP analysis. Moreover, the exploited PIM to enrich lithium ion featured a higher flux compared with other works. Any metal ion/ iostope may be separated and enriched by employing the novel PIM prepared in this work provided tailored ingredients are used.

Keywords:

Lithium ion , Membrane separation , Polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) , Crown ether.