EAPSI:Effects of Crystal Structure on Metal Uptake in Manganese-oOxides

锰(锰)氧化物是一种独特的矿物，具有广泛不同的晶体结构，包括层状和隧道结构，可用于多种用途。虽然锰氧化物在自然界中随处可见，但与真菌或细菌接触生长的晶体在回收金属方面比无机形成的锰氧化物更有效。此外，与其他无机合成相比，这种过程的化学强度较低。该项目将利用一种锰氧化真菌来种植水钠锰矿，这是一种层状的锰氧化物，以从海水中获取锂。锂对其在电池中的使用至关重要，然而，商业上可行的陆基锂矿藏很少。该项目将在日本福冈九州大学佐佐木惠子博士的指导下进行。佐佐木博士是将生物地球化学用于矿物加工和环境资源回收的专家。以前的工作表明，在氯化锂存在的情况下，加热水钠镁形成一种锂锰氧化物(LMO)“筛子”，可用于从海水中回收锂。锂回收能力取决于LMO最初加热到的温度。在这个项目中，LMO将被添加到含低浓度锂的海水中，以测量锂的吸收。此外，还将利用透射电子显微镜(TEM)研究加热过程中晶体结构的变化，以及这些结构变化是如何帮助或阻碍锂的吸收的。这些数据将在羽田聪博士的协助下使用九州大学的S稀有、低电压、高分辨率的透射电子显微镜获得。该NSF EAPSI奖是与日本科学促进会(JSPS)合作资助的。

Manganese (Mn) oxides are unique minerals that have widely varying crystal structures, including layered and tunnel structures that can be used for many purposes. While Mn-oxides are found throughout nature, crystals that grow in contact with fungus or bacteria are more effective at metal recovery than Mn-oxides formed inorganically. In addition, such a process is less chemically intensive than other inorganic syntheses. This project will utilize a Mn-oxidizing fungus to grow birnessite, a layered Mn-oxide, in order to obtain lithium from seawater. Lithium is vitally important for its use in batteries, however, there are very few commercially viable, land-based lithium deposits. The project will be conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Keiko Sasaki at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Dr. Sasaki is an expert in the use of biogeochemistry for mineral processing and environmental resource recovery.Previous work has shown that heating birnessite in the presence of LiCl forms a lithium manganese oxide (LMO) "sieve" that can be used to retrieve lithium from seawater. Lithium recovery capacity is dependent on the temperature to which the LMO was initially heated. In this project, LMOs will be added to seawater containing low concentrations of lithium, in order to measure lithium uptake. In addition, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) will be utilized to investigate the changes to crystal structure that occur with heating, and how these structural shifts either assist or hinder lithium uptake. These data will be acquired with the assistance of Dr. Satoshi Hata using Kyushu University?s rare, low voltage, high resolution TEM. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).