Ion Imprinting Research Articles

Magnetic graphene oxide surface lithium ion-imprinted material towards lithium extraction from salt lake

In order to effectively extract lithium from salt lake brine, a novel magnetic graphene oxide-based lithium ion-imprinted polymer (IIP-GO/Fe3O4@C) was developed by combining magnetic separation technology with surface ion imprinting technology. GO/Fe3O4@C, which is composed of graphene oxide (GO) and Fe3O4@C, was modified by silane coupling agent KH570 and then grafted with methacrylic acid (MAA). The IIP-GO/Fe3O4@C achieved excellent Li+ separation performance, including an adsorption capacity of 31.24 mg/g, good regeneration performance (91% of the initial value after six adsorption–desorption cycles), a moderate equilibrium time of about 2 h, and relatively high selectivity against Na+, K+, and Mg2+ of 14.31, 12.05, and 10.9, respectively. These excellent properties are due to the synergistic effect between the construction of adsorption sites brought by the high specific surface area (225.8 m2/g) of GO/Fe3O4@C skeleton and the particular recognition of Li+ by 2-hydroxymethyl-12-crown ether-4. Therefore, IIP-GO/Fe3O4@C can be used as a prominent candidate for extracting lithium from salt lake brine.

Synthesis and optimization selective ion-imprinted polymer for the elimination of Ca II ions using Taguchi design

One of the most important problems associated with calcium measurement is the possibility of underdiagnosed due to a false prediction of hypercalcemia results. Ion imprinting has become one of the fast growing technologies that have gained a lot of attention recently especially in the area of materials science. The present work proposes the synthesis and characterization of ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) in the form of porous film for the removal of Ca (II) from aqueous solution and human blood serum. Ca (II)-IIP films are prepared from mixing of two naturally formed biopolymers cellulose and sodium alginate, CaCl2, ECH, EDTA are used as the source of template ions, cross-linker and extraction agent, respectively. Taguchi method is used to optimize the synthesis and adsorption parameters of the new developed IIP. The optimum IIP films are characterized using FTIR, TGA, FESEM and XRD for determining the performance of the imprinting process achieved. PH dosage, initial concentration, reusability, selectivity, isotherm and kinetic study are investigated for the optimized IIP in Ca (II) aqueous solution. The resulted optimum conditions are pH 5.9, initial concentration (50 mg/l), dosage (300 mg) and 90 min contact time. It was clear from the adsorption data that the Ca (II) sorption by Ca (II)-IIP was fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model. The Langmuir adsorption constants for the adsorption of Ca (II) at room temperature are calculated to be (0.017 L/mg) and the R is 0.9469. The rate of removal of Ca (II) by Ca (II)-IIP is sustained between 98.99 and 86.12% for five periods. Furthermore, findings show that the Ca (II)-IIP is can successfully applied for the removal of free Ca (II) ions in human blood serum.

Experimental and DFT studies on highly selective separation of indium ions using silica gel/graphene oxide based ion-imprinted composites as a sorbent

Here, a novel adsorbent for selective separation and recovery of In(III) ions from the real wastewater was fabricated using ion imprinting technique with graphene oxide composite as the host materials. Several techniques, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Thermogravimetry (TGA) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)were used to characterize the silica gel/graphene oxide based ion-imprinted composites (SG/GOIIC) and the obtained experimental results were combined with the Density Functional Theory (DFT) theoretical calculations to reveal the adsorption mechanism. The adsorption behaviors of SG/GOIIC towards In(III) ions was evaluated using both batch and fixed-bed experiments. The results shown that the adsorption ability of In(III) ions onto SG/GOIIC increased with the increase of pH range from 1.5 to 3.0, and that the adsorption equilibrium was reached within 50 min. The maximum uptake of SG/GOIIC calculated using Langmuir isotherm was estimated to 147.1 mg/g. Kinetics studies revealed that the pseudo-second-order was a better choice to describe the whole absorption process, while the isotherms of In(III) ions adsorption followed the Langmuir model. In addition, SG/GOIIC exhibited excellent affinity towards In(III) ions in water even in the presence of Sn(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Al(III) and Fe(III) ions and the corresponding selectivity coefficients of SG/GOIIC for In/Sn, In/Cu, In/Zn, In/Al and In/Fe were 18.47, 22.99, 35.31, 16.67 and 8.52, respectively. The SG/GOIIC possessed good stability with adsorption rate maintained at 94.36% even after five cycles. More importantly, the SG/GOIIC composite was able to separate and to recover indium from real wastewater through fix-bed adsorption. This study proposed a new method to prepare adsorbent with excellent selectivity towards targeted ions and to figure out the difficulty of graphene oxide in separation from water.

Enriched 146Nd recovery from a 147Pm production process by applying ion imprinting technique

A neodymium-imprinted polymeric sorbent was synthesized to recover the enriched 146Nd-target material from 147Pm production process. The studies indicated the neodymium (III) adsorption capacity of 1.5 mg g− 1. 146Nd-oxide was irradiated in Tehran Research Reactor to produce 147Pm. Then, the prepared Nd-selective sorbent was applied to recover the macro-gram amounts of 146Nd from a micro-gram amount of 147Pm. Regarding the high efficiency of leaching process (> 96%), the remaining natural Nd-ions trapped in polymer structure caused an acceptable slight down-blending of the target material. The sorbent with 146Nd was burned with a heat-gun to produce 146Nd2O3 for the next experiments.

Synthesis and Adsorption Properties of Gadolinium-Imprinted Divinylbenzene-Based Copolymers.

Ion-imprinted divinylbenzene and methacrylic acid copolymers for rare-earth element adsorption with crosslink ratios 60 and 40% have been synthesized. Ion imprinting has been carried out via the trapping approach. Alizarin red S has been incorporated in the polymers as a nonvinylated ligand. The obtained materials were characterized via scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Synthesized polymers exist as gel-type nonporous spherical agglomerates from 2 to 6 μm with low surface areas. The sorption properties of the synthesized polymers with respect to lanthanides in static and dynamic modes have been studied. The most efficiently synthesized materials extract rare earth elements from solutions at pH 4–7. The maximum sorption capacity of the obtained polymers with regard to Gd is around 0.5 mmol/g. According to the obtained results, the imprinted polymer with a crosslink ratio 60% is characterized by the highest values of distribution coefficients for lanthanides. The total lanthanide breakthrough capacity for this polymer is 0.861 μmol/g. The adsorption column has been constructed using the imprinted polymer with a crosslink ratio 60%. The column extraction and preconcentration procedure for the trace Eu content determination in the strontium iodide recycled material by inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry at a level of 1 × 10–6%(mass) has been proposed.

Construction of a novel ion imprinted film to remove low concentration Cu2+ from aqueous solution

To develop a green approach to ion capturing and separation, an electrochemically assisted imprinting and elution strategy was proposed. Novel ion imprinted film (Cu2+-IIF) was synthesized by combining ion imprinting technology with electrochemically switched ion exchange technology for removal of low concentration Cu2+ from aqueous solution. Cu2+-IIF was prepared by using Cu2+ as template ion, potassium ferrocyanide as doping agent, pyrrole as cross-linker and conductor. To enhance the ability to remove Cu2+ at low concentration, adsorption and reduction were integrated. The morphologies and microstructures of samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The removal ability and selectivity of Cu2+ were tested. The results show that more than 90% of Cu2+ at the concentration of 5 ppm was removed, thus meeting the requirement for direct emission. The adsorption capacity reaches 7.57 mg g−1 at initial Cu2+ concentration of 5 ppm. The selectivity factor of Cu2+ with respect to Cd2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ was 49.27, 26.52 and 30.16, respectively. The removal capacity of Cu2+-IIF remained 95.13% after five cycles.

Selective and sensitive electrochemical sensors based on an ion imprinting polymer and graphene oxide for the detection of ultra-trace Cd(ii) in biological samples.

New selective and sensitive electrochemical sensors were designed based on the deposition of a promising ion imprinted polymer (IIP) on the surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for the detection and monitoring of Cd(ii) in different real samples. Herein, a highly selective Cd-imprinted polymer was successfully synthesized using a novel heterocyclic compound based on the benzo[f]chromene scaffold that acted as a complexing agent and a functional monomer in the presence of azobisisobutyronitrile (initiator) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (cross-linker). The characterization of the synthesized chelating agent and IIP was performed using FT-IR, SEM, 1H-NMR, EIMS, and EDX analyses. After that, the voltammetric sensor was manufactured by introducing graphene oxide (GO) on the surface of GCE; then, the IIP was grown by a drop coating technique. The electrochemical characterization of the voltammetric sensor (IIP/GO@GCE) was performed by CV and EIS. For comparison, the potentiometric sensor was also prepared by embedding IIP in plasticized polyvinyl chloride and depositing it as one layer on the GCE surface. Anodic stripping voltammetry was used to construct the calibration graph; the IIP/GO@GCE exhibited a wider detection range (4.2 × 10−12–5.6 × 10−3 mol L−1) and extremely low detection limit (7 × 10−14 mol L−1) for Cd(ii). Meanwhile, the potentiometric sensor showed a linear calibration curve for Cd(ii) over a concentration range from 7.3 × 10−8 mol L−1 to 2.4 × 10−3 mol L−1 with a detection limit of 6.3 × 10−10 mol L−1. Furthermore, both sensors offered outstanding selectivity for Cd(ii) over a wide assortment of other common ions, high reproducibility, and excellent stability.

Optical Fiber SPR Sensor With Surface Ion Imprinting for Highly Sensitive and Highly Selective Ni2+ Detection

A reflective optical fiber nickel ion (Ni2+) sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface ion imprinting was proposed and demonstrated. The sensor is made of multimode optical fiber with a core diameter of 600 $\mu \text{m}$ and coated with a gold film for an exciting SPR effect. To realize highly sensitive and highly selective detection of Ni2+, graphene oxide (GO) and Ni2+-imprinted Chitosan (IP-CS) are subsequently combined on the sensor surface. The GO can not only act as the intermediate binder between the Au film and the CS but also increase the sensitivity of the sensor. The Ni2+ holes on the IP-CS can realize the specific capture of Ni2+. The experimental results show that the sensitivity of the sensor to Ni2+ is 5.220 nm/[lg(mg/L)] with a limit of detection of $2.393\times 10^{-3}$ mg/L, and the selectivity of the sensor is significantly improved after imprinting. Besides, the sensor has good stability and repeatability, and fast responsiveness.

Greener and facile synthesis of hybrid nanocomposite for ultrasensitive iron (II) detection using carbon sensor

Abstract Novel hybrid nanocomposite has been developed using an environmentally friendly method. The new hybrid nanocomposite was synthesized in two green steps at ambient conditions as graphite decorated with gold nanoparticles and then coated with polypyrrole chains through solvent-less vapor polymerization method. Developed graphite–gold nanoparticles-polypyrrole (GR-AuNP-PPY) nanocomposite has been explored as an effective electroactive material for preparing iron (II) ion-selective carbon paste electrode. The developed nanocomposite mass loadings in the fabricated carbon sensor were varied from 12 to 72 mg. The electrode incorporating 56 mg of GR-AuNP-PPY exhibited an excellent bivalent Nernstian slope value of 30.0 ± 0.23 mV decade−1 over a perceptible spacious concentration range of 1.0 × 10−6 – 1.0 × 10−2 mol L−1 within pH range from 2.5 to 5.5 displaying a fast response time of 3 s. The proposed GR-AuNP-PPY based sensor revealed a good discriminating power of iron (II) ion over numerous metal ions. The analytical applicability of the GR-AuNP-PPY based electrode has been investigated for the quantitative detection of iron (II) ion in spiked water samples using the calibration curve method. The aforementioned sensor displayed excellent selectivity, good response time, high accuracy and precision. Additionally, the mechanism of electroactive material interaction with iron (II) was investigated and found to be an ion imprinting like mechanism.

A lithium ion-imprinted adsorbent using magnetic carbon nanospheres as a support for the selective recovery of lithium ions

A magnetic carbon-based lithium ion-imprinted material (Li+-IIP-Fe3O4@C) with a high Li+ adsorption selectivity was designed and prepared by a surface ion imprinting method, using magnetic carbon nanospheres (Fe3O4@C) as the carrier and 2-hydroxymethyl-12-crown-4 as the adsorption unit. First, Fe3O4@C was silanized by γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane to obtain Si-Fe3O4@C which was then functionalized with methacrylic acid (MAA), followed by polymerization to obtain PMAA-Fe3O4@C with a regular morphology and a high degree of MAA grafting. Finally, 2-hydroxymethyl-12-crown-4 was grafted onto the surface of PMAA-Fe3O4@C in the presence of LiClO4 under catalysis by p-toluenesulfonic acid. This was cross-linked by ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and eluted by a HNO3 solution to obtain Li+-IIP-Fe3O4@C. The kinetic adsorption and isothermal adsorption results for this material show that the adsorption of Li+ conforms to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and has Langmuir isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity of Li+-IIP-Fe3O4@C for Li+ is 22.26 mg g-1 at 25°C. The selection factors of Li+ against Na+, K+ and Mg2+ are 8.06, 5.72, and 2.75, respectively. The Li+ adsorption capacity of Li+-IIP-Fe3O4@C decreases by only 8.8% after six adsorption-desorption cycles, demonstrating an excellent regeneration capability and making it very useful for lithium recovery.

Synthesis of a new ion-imprinted polymer for selective Cr(VI) adsorption from aqueous solutions effectively and rapidly

Removing hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from aqueous solution is strategically important. A novel and selective adsorbent was synthesized using a high electron beam irradiation pre-grafting and post-surface ion imprinting method using Cr(VI) and polypropylene (PP) fibers as the template and substrates, respectively. The results obtained using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG) indicated that the prepared sorbent was successfully synthesized. At the same time, the adsorption performances were studied through batch experiments. The results exhibited rapid adsorption kinetics, a wide working pH range, and excellent selectivity and regeneration. The equilibrium adsorption was achieved within 30 min, the maximum sorption capacity of Cr(VI)-IIPs was 156.5 mg g−1 and partition coefficients (PC) was 0.591 mg g−1 uM−1 at 400 mg L−1 initial concentration and 298 K. The relative selectivity coefficients of the ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) for Cr2O72−/HPO42− and Cr2O72−/NO3− were 36.7 and 39.9, respectively. In addition, the prepared sorbent has a negligible loss in adsorption capacity after five cycles. IIP has good application prospects in the selective removal of Cr(VI) ions.

Preparation of SBA-15 surface lanthanum ion-imprinted polymer and its adsorption properties

The preparation of a lanthanum ion-imprinted polymer is described via surface ion imprinting, with polyethyleneimine as the functional monomer and SBA-15 as the matrix material. Its structure was characterized and analyzed, and static adsorption experiments were carried out to determine the best experimental conditions for the adsorption of lanthanum ions. The effects of initial concentration, temperature, adsorption time and pH on the adsorption of lanthanum ion surface-imprinted polymer were investigated. In addition, the regeneration performance of La(III)-IIP-PEI/SBA-15 on lanthanum ion was studied and showed that La(III)-IIP-PEI/SBA-15 has strong specific recognition ability and high reuse performance.

Micro solid phase extraction of cadmium and lead on a new ion-imprinted hierarchical mesoporous polymer via dual-template method in river water and fish muscles: Optimization by experimental design

In the present study, a new class of hierarchical silica based imprinted mesoporous polymers was fabricated by ion imprinting technology and it was applied to simultaneous selective extraction of cadmium and lead ions by micro solid phase extraction (μ-SPE). The biological nanocrystalline cellulose (BNCC) was prepared via acid catalyzed hydrolysis of cotton wool. The hierarchical silica (HS), as a substrate material, was synthesized via dual-template method, using BNCC and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as hard and soft templates respectively. The structure and functional groups was characterized by Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The results indicate that the as-prepared material has a hierarchical mesoporous structure with high specific surface area and high adsorption capacity for Cd(II) and Pb(II). The optimum experimental conditions in the proposed procedure were determined by response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box Behnken Design (BBD) and then it was successfully applied to determine Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions in the river water and fish samples.

Synthesis of multidentate functional monomer for ion imprinting.

In this work, N,N,N-tri(2-carboxyethyl)-3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyl-trimethoxysilane was prepared as a multidentate functional monomer. The 3D model of the monomer coordinating with Cu2+ indicated that the monomer is able to provide five ligating atoms like ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-Cu2+ to complex with Cu2+ . When Cu2+ was used as a template ion, the synthesis conditions of Cu2+ -imprinted polymers were optimized upon orthogonal design. It is interesting to find that Cu2+ -imprinted polymer offers a selectivity coefficient of 192.2 when the molar ratio of Cu2+ to monomer was exactly 1:1. That means there is no excess ligating atom in the ion-imprinted polymer and therefore, the nonspecific adsorption could be avoided. Benefiting from the excellent selectivity of Cu2+ -imprinted polymer, even if the concentration of Zn2+ was 25 times that of Cu2+ , Cu2+ -imprinted polymer still affords a high selectivity coefficient. Finally, the optimal synthesis conditions for Cu2+ -imprinted polymer, except the pH, were adopted to prepare Ni2+ -imprinted polymer, and Ni2+ -imprinted polymer also offered satisfying selectivity to Ni2+ . That implies this multidentate monomer is adaptable in ion imprinting and, the optimal synthesis conditions of Cu2+ -imprinted polymer except pH are likely suitable for the imprinting of other ions besides Cu2+ .

Synthesis and application of a surface ionic imprinting polymer on silica-coated Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots as a chemosensor for the selective quantification of inorganic arsenic in fish.

A novel room temperature phosphorescence chemosensor probe has been successfully developed and applied to the selective detection and quantification of inorganic arsenic (As(III) plus As(V)) in fish samples. The prepared material (IIP@ZnS:Mn QDs) was based on Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots coated with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane and an As(III) ionic imprinted polymer. The novel use of vinyl imidazole as a complexing reagent when synthesizing the ionic imprinted polymer guarantees that both inorganic arsenic species (As(III) and As(V)) can interact with the recognition cavities in the ionic imprinted polymer. After characterization, several studies were performed to enhance the interaction between the targets (As(III) and As(V) ions) and the IIP@ZnS:Mn QDs nanoparticles. The optimization and validation process showed that the composite material offers high selectivity (high imprinting factor) for inorganic arsenic species. The limit of quantification for total inorganic As was 29.6μgkg-1, value lower than the EU/EC regulation limits proposed for other foodstuffs than fish, such as rice. The proposed method is therefore simple, requires short analysis times and offers good sensitivity, precision (inter-day relative standard deviations lower than 10%), and quantitative analytical recoveries. The method has been successfully applied to assess total inorganic arsenic in several fishery products, showing good agreement with the total inorganic arsenic concentration (As(III) plus As(V)) found after applying other advanced and expensive methods such those based on high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Graphical abstract.

Selective solid phase extraction and pre-concentration of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution using Cu(II)-ion imprinted polymeric beads

A new Cu(II)-ion imprinted polymeric (IIP) beads (∼ 450 μm) were prepared by suspension polymerization of methyl methacrylate (monomer) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (crosslinker) in the presence of Cu(II)-picolinic acid (functional ligand) binary complex wherein Cu(II) ion is used as an imprint ion. The imprinted Cu(II) ions were removed from the polymeric matrix using 1 M HCl, thereby creating the cavities for the selective adsorption of Cu(II) ions. For the comparison purpose, control polymeric (CP) beads were similarly prepared without the use of Cu(II) ions. The prepared IIP beads were characterized using different analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, surface area and pore size distribution. The optimum solution pH was determined to be 5.0 and equilibrium was achieved within 60 min. Nature of eluent, eluent concentration and sample volume were also studied. The synthesized IIP exhibited high selectivity coefficients for the Cu(II)/Ni(II), Cu(II)/Co(II) and Cu(II)/Zn(II) are 26.8, 34.0 and 57.7, respectively. The IIP beads can be used up to seven adsorption/desorption cycles with the recovery not less than 97 %. The detection limit corresponding to three times the standard deviation of the blank was found to be 0.3 μg mL−1.

Properties and performance of Ag(I) ion imprinted PVDF-PVA/GO composite membrane: Enhanced permeability, rejection and anti-microbial ability

A novel composite membrane with enhanced permeability, rejection and anti-microbial ability was fabricated through chemical modification of PVDF membrane with silver (Ag) ion imprinted poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide (PVA/GO) thin layer. The physico-chemical properties of the membranes were investigated by a series of analysis techniques. The membrane filtration performance, i.e., pure water flux and rejection efficiency of NaCl, MgSO4 and bovine serum albumin (BSA), was found to be highly affected by the modification processes. Although rejection performance of the H-PVDF-PVA/GO-m-Ag membrane was observed to be slightly decreased compared to that of the H-PVDF-PVA/GO membrane, the uniform imprinting of Ag ions on the membrane surface can endow the membrane with excellent anti-microbial ability. According to results from both batch and dynamic filtration experiments, the H-PVDF-PVA/GO-m-Ag membrane can effectively inactivate 58% and 100% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells after incubation for 1 and 4 ​h, respectively and reduce approximately 94% of surface adhesion density. The prepared membrane with the excellent anti-biofouling ability exhibited a promising application potential in water treatment processes.

Ion-imprinted modified molecular sieves show the efficient selective adsorption of chromium(vi) from aqueous solutions.

Molecular sieve 5A was modified with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) as the support matrix, on which 4-VP was used as the ionic imprinting group. The as-prepared IIZMS-APTES was applied as the adsorbent for the recovery of chromium(vi) from aqueous solutions. The adsorbent was characterized via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The influences of adsorption time, concentration of the ions, initial pH, and temperature on the adsorption performance to Cr(vi) were investigated. The selectivity and reusability of IIZMS-APTES are also evaluated. The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity reached 56.46 mg g−1 when the initial concentration of metal ions was at 100 mg L−1 at pH 2 and 30 °C. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The IIZMS-APTES exhibits an efficient selective adsorption of Cr(vi) from aqueous solutions.

High salt compatible oxyanion receptors by dual ion imprinting

Imprinting of an ion-pair in presence of mutually compatible anion and cation host monomers leads to polymers showing enhanced ion uptake in competitive high ionic strength buffers.

Selective recovery of Li+ in acidic environment based on one novel electroactive Li+-imprinted graphene-based hybrid aerogel

To meet the requirements of industrial lithium extraction from the simulated acidic leaching solution of fly ash, one novel ion-imprinted graphene-based hybrid aerogel (LIIP@N-CMS/GA) has been developed by a combination of pulse electropolymerization and surface ion imprinting technique. The imprinted film consists of polypyrrole (PPy), graphene oxide (GO), benzo-12-crown 4-ether (B12C4) and nitrogen-doped carbon microspheres/graphene aerogel (N-CMS/GA). By integrating the electric field driving and specific recognition of B12C4 towards Li+, the LIIP@N-CMS/GA electrode achieves excellent ionic separation performance, including high adsorption capacity of 41.05 mg g−1 with superior retention ratio (keeping 91.7% of the initial value even experiencing 10 cycles of electrochemical adsorption–desorption), short equilibration time less than 2 h, and relatively high selectivity separation factor of 51.99, 19.66, 14.37 and 12.40 against Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Al3+, respectively. These performances originate from the synergistic effects of the porous structure of N-CMS/GA with excellent conductivity, specific recognition of B12C4 towards Li+, and electric field driving which accelerates ion transport as well as electron transfer. Therefore, LIIP@N-CMS/GA can act as an outstanding candidate for lithium extraction in acidic environment.