Fabrication of biomass carbonaceous aerogel-modified ion sieve composites for lithium adsorption

In this work, a composite material, denoted as HTO@BCA, was synthesized by combining H2TiO3 with biomass carbon aerogel (BCA) to modify a lithium-ion sieve. The HTO@BCA sample exhibited a higher equilibrium Li+ adsorption capacity of 39.8 mg·g−1. The improvement of adsorption capacity is ascribed to the increase in surface hydrophilicity, specific surface area, contact area between lithium-ion solution and adsorbent, and lattice spacing beneficial for the entry and exit of Li+ solutions. The adsorption capacity of HTO@BCA remained at 36.6 mg·g−1 in the fifth cycle indicating excellent recycling performance. The HTO@BCA also showed excellent selectivity for Li+ among Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+, especially reducing the adsorption capacity of Mg2+ and Ca2+.