Lithium is a chemical element (atomic number 3) that plays distinct roles across multiple scientific topics, including materials science, electrochemistry, and psychiatry. In battery research, lithium’s low atomic mass, high electrochemical potential, and capacity for intercalation into host lattices underpin lithium-ion and solid-state energy storage technologies, where it governs energy density, cycle life, and safety characteristics. In neuropsychopharmacology, lithium salts are studied as mood-stabilizing agents, with research focusing on their modulation of intracellular signaling pathways, neuroprotective effects, and impacts on synaptic plasticity and circadian regulation, although precise molecular mechanisms remain incompletely resolved.
One of the biggest obstacles on the road to a low-carbon energy future is caused by the rare-earth element lithium, a critical component for the batteries that can store the abundant and sustainable energy from renewable ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 17, 2025
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Critical mineral lithium—the lightest of all metals—had long eluded geologists by slipping through the cracks of traditional analysis.
Earth Sciences
Aug 7, 2025
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Lithium is considered a key ingredient in the future commercial fusion power plants known as tokamaks, and there are several ways to use this metal to enhance the process. But a key question remained: How much does it impact ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 29, 2025
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Using a cutting-edge magnetic wave detection technique, a new study in Nature Communications has identified lithium in Mercury's exosphere for the first time.
A research team led by Prof. Wan Yinhua from the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered a surprising new mechanism that fundamentally alters our understanding of ion transport in ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 2, 2025
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They're in the headlines every week—critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and the rare earth elements essential for high-technology and national security applications.
Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2025
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The origin of lithium (Li), the third element of the periodic table, has long been shrouded in mystery. This element, commonly found in cosmic rays as two stable isotopes, 6Li and 7Li, is crucial to understanding the origins ...
Much of the world's lithium occurs in salty waters with fundamentally different chemistry than other naturally saline waters like the ocean, according to a study published on May 23 in Science Advances. The finding has implications ...
Earth Sciences
May 23, 2025
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A research team has developed an innovative membrane that mimics biological ion channels to achieve highly selective lithium ion separation from complex brines. Their study is published in Nature Communications, and the researchers ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 30, 2025
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New research into lithium mining in the "Lithium Triangle" of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia—source of more than half of the world's lithium resources—shows that the commonly accepted models used to estimate how much water ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 26, 2025
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