Taming wettability of lithium ion sieve via different TiO2 precursors for effective Li recovery from aqueous lithium resources

The titanium type lithium ion sieves (LISs) are considered as a promising adsorbent for lithium extraction from liquid resources. However, different TiO2 precursors prepared LISs present greatly difference in adsorption performance and recycle stability. In this study, the influence of the different crystal phases of TiO2 precursors (amorphous, anatase, and rutile) on the adsorption performance of the terminated H2TiO3-lithium ion sieve (HTO) were investigated. On the basis of contact angle experiments, we find the correlation between the hydrophilic and the adsorption performance of HTO. Among the three types of HTO adsorbents, anatase TiO2-derived HTO (HTO-400) exhibited the highest adsorption performance for Li+ due to its the strongest hydrophilicity and was favorable for contacting with Li+ in solution. Lithium adsorption studies showed that the equilibrium adsorption capacity of HTO-400 reached 34.2 mg/g within 24 h. Competitive adsorption and recycling results indicated that HTO-400 possessed a highly selectivity for Li+ and was easy to regeneration.