Critical materials
Critical materials include minerals like lithium, copper, nickel, and rare earth elements (REEs). These materials are highly essential resources for advanced technologies such as energy storage, high-tech electronics, and catalysis. Therefore, there is a growing demand for more sustainable and efficient approaches for their separation processes.
Solvent extraction and RTIL
The current predominant technology for the separation of REE is solvent extraction (SX), which requires large volumes of acid dissolution and molecular solvents with expensive extractants. In order to address issues in SX, room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been widely studied to replace traditional molecular solvents.
Research focus
In our research group, computational molecular modeling techniques are combined with experimental and spectroscopic investigation to provide better understanding on free energy contributions and molecular-level interaction that govern the REEs separation energetics and extraction mechanisms.