Metal Recovery from Lunar Regolith via Deep Eutectic Solvent Electrolysis for In Situ Resource Utilization

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Extraterrestrial Resource Utilization
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Sustaining human presence on the Moon requires strategic metals, achievable through in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
• Lunar regolith is a potential source of valuable metals.
• Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) offer a novel approach for extracting metals from extraterrestrial materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of extracting metals from lunar regolith simulant (LMS-1) using DESs.
• To compare the dissolution efficiency of ethaline and reline for major lunar regolith oxides.
• To determine the electrochemical behavior of dissolved metals and establish parameters for selective electrodeposition.

Main Methods:

• Dissolution of lunar regolith simulant (LMS-1) in ethaline and reline.
• Analysis of dissolved oxides using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).
• Electrochemical characterization using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV).

Main Results:

• Reline showed significantly higher dissolution efficiency for lunar regolith oxides compared to ethaline.
• Electrochemical measurements revealed complex multivalent redox transitions of dissolved metal species.
• Selective electrodeposition of Si, Al, Cr, and Fe was achieved by controlling overpotentials.

Conclusions:

• DESs, particularly reline, are effective for dissolving lunar regolith oxides.
• Selective electrochemical extraction of metals from DESs is a viable strategy for ISRU.
• This research provides a foundation for developing lunar resource extraction technologies.