Hydrotropic porous liquids for metal separation

The development of more environmentally-friendly hydrometallurgical processes involves proposing alternatives to the conventional organic solvents used for the liquid-liquid extraction of metals. In this context, ICSM researchers have recently proposed replacing the orga-nic phase with an original liquid, a porous liquid (LP) based on a phase of porous silica nano-beads synthesized to form a fluid, hydrophobic phase. Preliminary extraction tests on three rare earth elements in aqueous solution and contacted to the LP phase have shown that functionalization of the LP with specific ligands is necessary to observe metal extraction.

^{Credit: ICSM/LTSM}

For more information:
Hydrophobic Porous Liquids with Controlled Cavity Size and Physico-Chemical Properties.
L. Ginot, A. El Bakkouche, F. Giusti, S. Dourdain, S. Pellet-Rostaing. Advanced Science (2024) 11, 2305906. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202305906