Lithium ore. (Image Credit: James St. John. Used under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Texas A&M University researchers are developing autonomous nanobots designed to dive in seawater to retrieve lithium ions. In turn, seawater can serve as an alternative source of lithium for EVs, batteries, and energy storage. They believe this method may be more efficient than mining for the mineral. The U.S. Department of Energy is backing this project with a $1 million award.
“Unlike traditional mining that digs up land or pumps brine from underground and requires massive amounts of energy, these autonomous micro/nanorobots move freely through seawater to harvest lithium with virtually zero infrastructure footprint,” said Dr. Jingjing (Jenny) Qiu in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering.
The fish-like robot relies on micro- and nanoparticles, activated by light or other external forces, to swim through seawater. Swimming like fish allows them to find and capture lithium ions instead of using stationary extraction. Once they retrieve the lithium, magnetic fields pull the robots out of the water. The microparticles can then be used again.
“Seawater lithium recovery could provide a stable alternative source to address the growing global demand for lithium,” Qiu said. “Our goal is to develop a technology that supports a more reliable domestic lithium supply chain while reducing the environmental footprint associated with traditional extraction methods.”
The team is working to improve the technology’s performance, test lithium recovery efficiency, and develop techniques for larger-scale demonstrations. They also want to create a cheaper, reusable, and continuously running process.
However, the team still needs to address a few obstacles. For example, separating lithium from other minerals in seawater may be difficult. These robots also need to be sufficiently durable to survive the harsh and complex marine environment. Meanwhile, the technology must undergo testing at a larger scale before industrial deployment. The researchers plan to evaluate the potential environmental effects of deploying the system.
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