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Published March 15, 2024 | Version v1
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Lanthanide transport in angstrom-scale MoS2-based two-dimensional channels

Creators

  • 1. University of Chicago
  • 2. Northwestern University
  • 3. Argonne National Laboratory

Description

Rare earth elements (REEs), critical to modern industry, are difficult to separate and purify, given their similar physicochemical properties originating from the lanthanide contraction. Here, we systematically study the transport of lanthanide ions (Ln3+) in artificially confined angstrom-scale two-dimensional channels using MoS2-based building blocks in an aqueous environment. The results show that the uptake and permeability of Ln3+ assume a well-defined volcano shape peaked at Sm3+. This transport behavior is rooted from the tradeoff between the barrier for dehydration and the strength of interactions of lanthanide ions in the confinement channels, reminiscent of the Sabatier principle. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that Sm3+, with moderate hydration free energy and intermediate affinity for channel interaction, exhibit the smallest dehydration degree, consequently resulting in the highest permeability. Our work not only highlights the distinct mass transport properties under extreme confinement but also demonstrates the potential of dialing confinement dimension and chemistry for greener REEs separation.

Data availability

All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials.

Files

sciadv.adh1330.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/sciadv.adh1330
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:11378

Funding

U.S. Department of Energy
DE-SC0022231
Argonne National Laboratory, Office of Science
AC02-06CH11357

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Physical Sciences Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Department(s)
Chemistry
Center(s) or Institute(s)
Institute for Biophysical Dynamics