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Rational Design of Lithium Sulphonamide Polymeric Cation Exchange Membranes for LiOH Production by Electro-Electrodialysis
Journal article   Open access

Rational Design of Lithium Sulphonamide Polymeric Cation Exchange Membranes for LiOH Production by Electro-Electrodialysis

Marco Amores, Antonela Gallastegui, Elena Gabirondo, Luka A. O'Dell, Allan Ang, Aleks Nikoloski, David Mecerreyes, Robert Kerr and Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo
Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, Vol.7(3), e202500481
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202500481
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Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

electro-electrodialysis lithium hydroxide production low-fluorine membranes polymeric cation exchange membranes (CEMs)
The use of electro-electrodialysis (EED) for the conversion of lithium salts obtained from either hard-rock minerals or brines into high-value battery-grade lithium hydroxide is gaining traction as an alternative green technology. Current cation exchange membranes employed in Li-salt EED possess low selectivity towards Li+ and are dominated by polyfluoroalkyl polymer-based membranes, which pose significant environmental concerns. Hence, there is a need for the development of inexpensive membranes for Li-salt EED applications with a lower content of environmentally hazardous fluorinated compounds. In this work, novel self-standing Li-selective and low-fluorine content membranes have been developed based on inexpensive methacrylic monomers, including a lithium sulfonyl-1-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide monomer. The membranes were prepared via fast UV-photopolymerisation. Rational design of the membranes with different co-monomer compositions and crosslinking degrees enabled the tailoring of the membrane properties including water uptake, mechanical strength, and electrochemical performance. The membranes showed a high Li-ion conductivity of up to 6.2 mS cm−1 and comparable EED performance to that of the Nafion117 membrane as benchmark, i.e., relatively low energy consumption of 13.9 kWh kg−1LiOH and high molar flux of up to 3.9 mmol h−1, with a Li+/Na+ molar fluxes ratio of 0.98.

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