TU-TESL

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On November 29 local time, Matthew hill of Monash University won the Solomon Award for his "magic crystal", which has dozens of applications ranging from clean gas and liquid to mining and pharmaceuticals. Energy exploration technologies (energyx), an American company, has developed a cleaner application for lithium mining, which brings good news for the future of automobile industry. Electric vehicles and renewable energy battery storage are gradually becoming the mainstream of the world. Matthew Hill used a Melbourne invention, the metal organic framework (MOFs), sometimes called "magic crystals," to prove that they can be used to clean air and water, as well as various industrial processes. Now, his team at CSIRO and Monash University, in collaboration with energy x, an American company, is commercializing a new process for producing lithium from organometallic frameworks. That night, Matthew received the first David and Valerie Solomon awards from the Australian Institute of technology and Engineering (ATSE). David Solomon is the main inventor of plastic banknotes in Australia. He has developed a series of new technologies widely used in the plastic and polymer industries. Most of the world's lithium is produced by "lithium salt", which is a labor-intensive process and requires a huge evaporation pool. For example, an evaporation pond in Chile covers an area of 42 square kilometers. Matthew's technology has the potential to replace 4000 hectares of water with a 0.1 square kilometer filter. His "magic crystal" is a network of metal atoms connected and separated by carbon based (organic) compounds. This is a huge surface area that can be customized to absorb almost anything. In the late 1980s, Professor Richard Robson, a chemist at the University of Melbourne, made the substance for the first time, but it was very difficult. When Matthew first tried to make MOF, he mixed 40 containers of material together to make only one gram of crystal. Today, he and his team can produce hundreds of kilograms of this crystal a week. It is estimated that by 2040, the annual sales volume of global electric vehicles will reach 56 million, and the annual sales volume of battery energy storage system will exceed 1095 GW. Compared with 2 million and 90 GW in 2018, the annual sales volume will increase exponentially. Electric cars use the same lithium-ion battery technology as cell phones and laptops. TIG Egan, founder and CEO of energy x, believes that this element will become the most important and valuable economic commodity in the 21st century. "The world has never needed so much lithium before, so the current production methods cannot reach the necessary scale," he said. Matthew's disruptive technology enables us to restore this essential resource in a transformative way. This will greatly improve the economic and environmental impact of lithium mining. " Lithium is just the latest in many applications. Matthew and his team are also working with industry to use these crystals to clean natural gas, clean the air in submarines, clean drugs, and so on. Matthew pointed out that this is just the tip of the iceberg. "Our metal organic framework membranes can not only separate lithium ions from water and be used to make batteries, but also prove that we can put these membranes into lithium batteries to improve their life and capacity. We are working with the local boron molecular company to expand our crystal production scale. "