Clay minerals display enhanced ability to extract lithium from water and trap inorganic contaminants when structural iron is converted to a chemically-reduced form. However, work to date has investigate a small number of natural clays that display barriers to wider application. Cycling of iron in clays between reduced and oxidized forms promotes lithium binding and then release, but irreversibly traps a portion of the lithium. Similarly, reduced clays repel contaminants that occur as anions (negatively charged) and passivate before they fully reactively-trap contaminants. Directly tuning the composition, structure, and charge of clay minerals potentially enables optimizing these solids for reversible lithium recovery and maximized contaminant sequestration. In this project in collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis, we apply hydrothermal synthesis of novel clay compositions and mediated electrochemical reduction and oxidation to demonstrate the tunability of clay minerals for the recovery of lithium and the sequestration of metal contaminants.
People: Meret Aeppli
Collaborators: Jeffrey Catalano
Funding: FY2026 Global Incubator Seed Grants