Selective cobalt-exchange membranes for electrodialysis dedicated for cobalt recovery from lithium, cobalt and nickel solutions

• Preparation of cobalt-selective exchange membrane. • Chemical and electrochemical material analysis. • Co 2+ removal with 91% efficiency and β Li Co β Ni Co at 5.6 and 16.1. The presented research deals with the developing cobalt selective membrane dedicated to the selective recovery of Co 2+ from a mixture of lithium, cobalt and nickel. The membrane was prepared according to the chemical grafting methods within two stages. The first stage involved hydrolyzation of the PAN surface and then incorporating 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline. The obtained membrane and its modification stage were evaluated by SEM, FTIR, elemental analysis, surface energetics, analytical measurements and EIS. The electrodialysis investigations confirmed the high selective behaviour of the developed membranes. Finally, from multi-component solutions, the cobalt was removed with 91% efficiency and Co to Li separation factor reached the value of 5.6 within 3 hr of the electrodialysis process. From the surface modification perspective, this work explores selective membranes' use to recover valuable elements from the mixture in batteries.