Meet John Liu, the student who used corn stalks to recover lithium from water
· Technology · Times of India, India Today
John Liu, a high school student from St. Paul, Minnesota, has developed a method to recover lithium from dilute brines using corn stalk pith and wheat straw. His research, titled 'Passive Capillary-Evaporative Lithium Pre-Concentration,' utilizes these agricultural by-products as scaffolds to concentrate lithium through evaporation. This project earned Liu a Gold Award at the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair and a finalist spot at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. The study addresses the difficulty of extracting lithium from low-concentration sources, which is currently an energy-intensive process. By repurposing agricultural residue, the project explores a lower-cost, sustainable alternative for lithium recovery.
Why it matters
This research offers a potential low-cost, sustainable method for lithium extraction, which is critical for the global supply of materials needed for rechargeable batteries.
Read the original report — Times of India
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