Li-Jung Kuo

An amidoxime and carboxylate containing polymer adsorbent derived from acrylic fiber has shown extremely high efficiencies for extracting critical materials and precious metals from seawater. Among 50 extractable elements, the lanthanides, cobalt, and palladium were ranked near the top with K_D values in the order of 10⁷, about an order of magnitude higher than that of uranium. The K_D value of the lanthanides increased linearly with the atomic number indicating charge density is a factor controlling trivalent lanthanide extractability in seawater. The data given in this report provides crucial information regarding the strategies of ocean mining of critical materials and precious metals.

Lithium (Li) is one of the critical industrial materials and an indispensable component in manufacturing Li-ion/Li batteries. However, Li resource is very limited and geographically uneven in earth’s crust and its mining is not sustainable due to the low efficiency and complicated separation and refining processes. Hence, direct Li recovery (from brines, seawater or used cells) and utilization are desired. Here, we report a novel technology to recover Li from low concentration solutions into a form of Li resource, which can be directly used for commercial battery materials production by fully eliminating the costly Li separation steps. By using both Li-ion selective membrane and low-cost Li host structural material, highly selective Li extraction was realized. Li-ion cathodes (e.g., spinel LiMn₂O 4 and layered LiNi_x Mn_yCo_zO₂) were synthesized with the extracted Li and have high phase purities and economic superiorities (e.g., $12.8 kg^-1 for LiMn₂O₄) over other Li extraction methods and even commercial cathodes ($15 kg^-1 for LiMn₂O₄). This contribution provides a potential technical pathway to overcome the challenges of both Li supply and battery cost for future electrification and decarbonization of socioeconomic system.

As CO₂ levels in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans steadily rise, varying organismal responses may produce ecological losers and winners. Increased ocean CO₂ can enhance seagrass productivity and thermal tolerance, providing some compensation for climate warming. However, the metabolic shifts driving the positive response to elevated CO₂ by these important ecosystem engineers remain unknown. We analyzed whole-plant performance and metabolic profiles of two geographically distinct eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) populations in response to CO₂ enrichment. In addition to enhancing overall plant size, growth and survival, CO₂ enrichment increased the abundance of Calvin Cycle and nitrogen assimilation metabolites while suppressing the abundance of stress-related metabolites. Overall metabolome differences between populations suggest that some eelgrass phenotypes may be better suited than others to cope with an increasingly hot and sour sea. Our results suggest that seagrass populations will respond variably, but overall positively, to increasing CO₂ concentrations, generating negative feedbacks to climate change.

An amidoxime and carboxylate containing chelating adsorbent derived from acrylic fiber shows a fast adsorption rate and high uranium and low vanadium adsorption capacities in real seawater tests.