US 12,454,472 B2
Target species recovery and related systems and methods
Trevor Alan Hatton, Sudbury, MA (US); Xiao Su, Urbana, IL (US); and Cameron G. Halliday, Wokingham (GB)
Assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US)
Appl. No. 17/272,007
Filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US)
PCT Filed Aug. 28, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/048463
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 26, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/047032, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 5, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/725,143, filed on Aug. 30, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/723,914, filed on Aug. 28, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0119283 A1, Apr. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. C02F 1/469 (2023.01); C02F 1/461 (2023.01); C02F 101/00 (2006.01); C02F 101/10 (2006.01); C02F 101/20 (2006.01); C02F 101/22 (2006.01)
CPC C02F 1/469 (2013.01) [C02F 1/4691 (2013.01); C02F 2001/46138 (2013.01); C02F 2101/006 (2013.01); C02F 2101/10 (2013.01); C02F 2101/103 (2013.01); C02F 2101/20 (2013.01); C02F 2101/22 (2013.01); C02F 2209/06 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
applying an electrical potential across a first electrode comprising a first conductive substrate and a first redox species immobilized to the first conductive substrate and a second electrode, such that a target species comprising a heavy metal, a transition metal, and/or a metalloid is adsorbed on the first electrode based on a specific chemical interaction between the first redox species and the target species;
splitting water at the second electrode;
electrochemically transforming the target species by reduction; and
releasing the target species from the first electrode such that, after the release, the heavy metal, the transition metal, and/or the metalloid has an oxidation state that is different from the oxidation state of the heavy metal, transition metal, and/or metalloid just prior to the adsorption of the target species on the first electrode,
wherein splitting the water at the second electrode comprises generating protons and lowering a pH of a fluid in contact with the first electrode, and wherein electrochemically transforming the target species by reduction comprises reducing the target species using the protons as a co-reagent.