Lithium Isotope Separation Using the 15-Crown-5 Ether System and Laboratory-Made Membranes

The enrichment of ⁶Li isotopes from a natural stage of 7.6% to above 59% is required for the development of next-generation green technologies capable of sustaining climate change mitigation and energy-mix targets. In this study, we developed two categories of custom laboratory-made organic membranes, membranes that were non-impregnated before electromigration (AI-1) and membranes impregnated with LiNTf₂ (AI-2), to evaluate their performance in lithium isotope separation. Both types of membranes were exposed in synthesis to ionic liquid and crown ether. The objective of the study was to test the performance of membranes in separating lithium isotopes from a lithium-loaded organic phase in an aqueous solution with variable potentials and time intervals. The results show that the impregnated AI-2 membranes increased the enrichment of ⁶Li in the early stages, and the effect decreased after 25 h. The efficiency of lithium isotope enrichment was positively related to the potential profile applied, migration time, and concentration of organic solution in the anode chamber. The 0.5 mol/L Bis-(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide lithium salt (Li[NTf₂]) with 0.1 M tetra butyl ammonium perchlorate (TBAP) in acetonitrile (CH₃CN) ionic solution significantly improved Li isotope separation compared with an aqueous environment with higher salt concentrations. The maximum isotopic separation coefficient (α) for AI-1.2 (15-crown-5 ether and 1 mol/L LiNTf₂ in TBAP solution after 48 h of electromigration) gradually increased to 1.0317. Our results demonstrated that in the laboratory-made setup described, the migration efficiency and Li isotope separation in the catholyte environment needed a minimum of 9 V and a migration time of 6 h, respectively; these values varied with the concentration of the organic solution in the anode chamber. The ability of laboratory-engineered membranes to impart isotope selectivity and enhance permselectivity or selectivity towards singly charged ions was demonstrated through the functionality of single-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This technology is particularly valuable and commercially feasible for future lithium isotope research in nuclear technology.