Despite the technological innovations spurred by the advent of the lithium-ion battery, lithium
production still utilizes antiquated solar evaporation processes that are inefficient,
environmentally deleterious, and lack the scalability required to meet projected demand.
Direct lithium extraction via membrane separations could revolutionize lithium salt
production, but progress in this area is limited by the lack of monovalent ion selectivity
exhibited by conventional polymeric membranes. Recently, a 12-crown-4 functionalized …