An electrochemical process implements, in a decoupled manner, a first step of electrolysis of an electrolyte to produce gaseous oxygen in a chamber and a second step of electrochemical conversion of H+ ions into gaseous hydrogen in a chamber which contains a liquid phase and a gas phase not dissolved in the liquid phase. Gaseous hydrogen produced in the conversion step is partly present in the gaseous headspace of chamber and as bubbles in the electrolyte, and partly dissolved in the electrolyte which is saturated with hydrogen. The electrolyte has at least one redox pair (A/B) forming at least one intermediate vector enabling the decoupling of the first and second steps. The interface between the gas and liquid phases is increased during the second step to accelerate the diffusion, from liquid phase to gas phase, of the dissolved hydrogen able to supersaturate the electrolyte. Pressurized gaseous hydrogen is then collected.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for producing Ac-225 from Ra-226, comprising submitting Ra-226 to a photo-nuclear process, collecting an electrochemical precipitation of an Ac-225 on a cathode in a recipient, removing the cathode from the recipient after the electrochemical precipitation of the Ac-225, transferring the cathode to a hot cell environment, and extracting the Ac-225 from the cathode in the hot cell environment. The Ra-226 may comprise a liquid solution in the recipient, and submitting Ra-226 to the photo-nuclear process may comprise irradiating the Ra-226 to produce Ra-225. The Ra-225 may decay into Ac-225 upon irradiation of the Ra-226.

Any metal having a low α-ray emission, the metal being any one of tin, silver, copper, zinc, or indium, wherein an emission of an α-ray after heating the metal at 100° C. in an atmosphere for six hours is 0.002 cph/cm.sup.2 or less. Any metal of tin, silver, copper, zinc and indium each including lead as an impurity is dissolved to prepare a hydrosulfate aqueous solution of the metal and lead sulfate is precipitated and removed in the solution. The lead sulfate is precipitated in the hydrosulfate aqueous solution by adding a lead nitrate aqueous solution including lead having an α-ray emission of 10 cph/cm.sup.2 or less to the hydrosulfate aqueous solution, from which the lead sulfate has been removed, and, at the same time, the solution is circulated while removing the lead sulfate to electrowinning the metal using the hydrosulfate aqueous solution as an electrolytic solution.

Any metal having a low α-ray emission, the metal being any one of tin, silver, copper, zinc, or indium, wherein an emission of an α-ray after heating the metal at 100° C. in an atmosphere for six hours is 0.002 cph/cm.sup.2 or less. Any metal of tin, silver, copper, zinc and indium each including lead as an impurity is dissolved to prepare a hydrosulfate aqueous solution of the metal and lead sulfate is precipitated and removed in the solution. The lead sulfate is precipitated in the hydrosulfate aqueous solution by adding a lead nitrate aqueous solution including lead having an α-ray emission of 10 cph/cm.sup.2 or less to the hydrosulfate aqueous solution, from which the lead sulfate has been removed, and, at the same time, the solution is circulated while removing the lead sulfate to electrowinning the metal using the hydrosulfate aqueous solution as an electrolytic solution.

Described herein are methods for recovering lithium metal, lithium hydride, or lithium hydroxide from lithium salts by dissolving the lithium salt in ionic liquids and applying a current to the solution.

Described herein are methods for recovering lithium metal, lithium hydride, or lithium hydroxide from lithium salts by dissolving the lithium salt in ionic liquids and applying a current to the solution.

Electrochemical methods using intercalation chemistry to extract Li from seawater using the TiO2-coated FePO4 electrode. The difference in the thermodynamic intercalation potentials, as well as the diffusion barriers between Li and Na, could provide near 100% selectivity towards Li interaction when Li/Na molar ratio is higher than 10-3. For lower Li/Na ratio as in the authentic seawater case, pulsed-rest and pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest electrochemical methods were developed to lower the intercalation overpotential and it was proven to successfully boost the Li selectivity. Moreover, the pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest method can also promote electrode crystal structure stability during the co-intercalation of Li and Na and prolong the lifetime of the electrode. Finally, 10 cycles of successful and stable Li extraction with 1:1 of Li to Na recovery from authentic seawater were demonstrated, which is equivalent to the selectivity of ˜1.8×104. Also, with lake water of higher initial Li/Na ratio of 1.6×10-3, Li extraction with more than 50:1 of Li to Na recovery was achieved.

Electrochemical methods using intercalation chemistry to extract Li from seawater using the TiO2-coated FePO4 electrode. The difference in the thermodynamic intercalation potentials, as well as the diffusion barriers between Li and Na, could provide near 100% selectivity towards Li interaction when Li/Na molar ratio is higher than 10-3. For lower Li/Na ratio as in the authentic seawater case, pulsed-rest and pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest electrochemical methods were developed to lower the intercalation overpotential and it was proven to successfully boost the Li selectivity. Moreover, the pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest method can also promote electrode crystal structure stability during the co-intercalation of Li and Na and prolong the lifetime of the electrode. Finally, 10 cycles of successful and stable Li extraction with 1:1 of Li to Na recovery from authentic seawater were demonstrated, which is equivalent to the selectivity of ˜1.8×104. Also, with lake water of higher initial Li/Na ratio of 1.6×10-3, Li extraction with more than 50:1 of Li to Na recovery was achieved.

A process for electrowinning a metal using a flow-through electrowinning apparatus can include the steps of: a) conveying an anolyte material and a metal chemical feedstock material along an anolyte flow path within an anolyte chamber; b) conveying catholyte material along a catholyte flow path within a catholyte chamber that has a cathode; c) applying an activation electric potential between the anode and a cathode that is sufficient to electrolyze and liberate metal ions from the metal chemical feedstock material in the anolyte chamber, thereby causing a flux of metal ions to migrate through a porous membrane from the anolyte chamber to the catholyte chamber and a metal product to be formed in the catholyte chamber; and while applying the activation electric potential, extracting a feedstock-depleted anolyte material from the anolyte chamber; and extracting an outlet material comprising the catholyte material and the metal product from the catholyte chamber via a catholyte outlet.

A process for electrowinning a metal using a flow-through electrowinning apparatus can include the steps of: a) conveying an anolyte material and a metal chemical feedstock material along an anolyte flow path within an anolyte chamber; b) conveying catholyte material along a catholyte flow path within a catholyte chamber that has a cathode; c) applying an activation electric potential between the anode and a cathode that is sufficient to electrolyze and liberate metal ions from the metal chemical feedstock material in the anolyte chamber, thereby causing a flux of metal ions to migrate through a porous membrane from the anolyte chamber to the catholyte chamber and a metal product to be formed in the catholyte chamber; and while applying the activation electric potential, extracting a feedstock-depleted anolyte material from the anolyte chamber; and extracting an outlet material comprising the catholyte material and the metal product from the catholyte chamber via a catholyte outlet.