Grant: Alliance Grants

Storing 1 TWh of energy in lithium-ion batteries requires ~100,000 tons of lithium. Lithium mines can consume up to 50,000 liters of water a day and more than half of today's lithium production is in areas with high water stress. Lithium mines that started operations between 2010 and 2019 took an average of 16.5 years to develop, putting in question how rapidly new lithium mining capacity can come online to meet the expected rise in demand. The resource limitations associated with the scale-up of battery production (2-6 TWh/year in 2031) require alternative extraction methods for lithium. At the same time, freshwater scarcity is already prevalent in many world regions. The objective of this international and interdisciplinary proposal between Michael Metzger (Electrochemistry, Dalhousie University, Canada), Penghao Xiao (Computational Materials Science, also Dalhousie) and Fabian Jeschull (Materials Characterization, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) is to develop novel, cost effective and highly sustainable Prussian White intercalation materials for water desalination and lithium extraction from brine. The novel electrochemical lithium extraction and desalination cells developed in this project can surpass the energy efficiency of state-of-the-art reverse osmosis desalination (~4 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter freshwater) and even utilize the brine byproduct for lithium extraction (142 million cubic meters per day in 2019). This represents a step change in freshwater generation technology and a new avenue to supply the exponentially growing battery industry with ethically mined lithium. The development of novel highly versatile Prussian White intercalation materials will advance Canada's strategic initiative for a domestic battery supply chain. This project will provide a unique training experience for highly qualified personnel in battery process technology, e.g., materials synthesis and electrode coating. Ultimately, the innovative materials science and leadership skills conveyed in this program will offer ample opportunity for the creation of start-ups, especially in the emergent green economy.