Industrial Use Of Lithium Salts And Solutions

You might have heard the name of the lightest known metal, Lithium, whenever you talk about phone batteries. Indeed, lithium-ion batteries have long ruled the cell phone industry. But do you know that the lightest metal can also lighten your mood?

Lithium is considered to be a special kind of metal. It's soft and lightweight because of which  it can be cut with a knife. All of the lithium on the earth is found in the form of minerals and salts. While lithium hydroxide has extensive uses across various industries, its usage is prominent in the two industries that we will discuss below.

Pharmaceutical Industry

You might be surprised to know that lithium salts and lithium carbonate are powerful antidepressants used in the psychiatric industry. Its major purpose is to treat bipolar disorders when other medications are not effective.

Swedish chemist Johan August discovered Lithium hydroxide as recently as 1817 and named it after 'lithos', which is a Greek word for stone. The pharmaceutical uses are being uncovered as time passes but its effectiveness has still been proven time and again. Food and Administration of Drugs labelled it one of the first antidepressants drugs to use. 

In many cases, lithium tablets are known to prevent suicidal thoughts as well. It is a dietary medication and can be taken orally. In earlier studies, Lithium carbonate was considered unsafe for children. But that has changed because of its proven effects in the treatment of bipolar disorder in children as young as 8 years old.

Along with other medication and treatment, lithium is used to treat schizophrenia. It works only with other antipsychotic therapy though. It also considerably helps lighten the mood and has been prescribed since the 1980s.

Batteries

The most extensive usage of lithium solution is in the battery industry where lithium is commonly used as an electrolyte as well as an electrode li-ion rechargeable batteries and disposable batteries. And it's not that lithium is used to make just the phone batteries. It has usage in camcorder, tablets and other device batteries.

Lithium batteries have higher charge density which is one reason why they're so popular. That is why your phone's battery lasts a couple of days despite so much usage. Lithium batteries can generate a voltage between 1.5V to 3.7V.

It's important to note that lithium-ion batteries are different from lithium metal batteries which are disposable. Lithium batteries are also used in remote-controlled toys apart from portable mobile devices.

The first commercial Li-Ion battery was developed by Sony and Asahi Kasei. Yoshino also won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for the revolutionary achievement.

Scientists have also shown concerns that lithium might become scarce as its extensive use continues with the ever-rising digital device market. Researchers are looking at other feasible methods to create batteries but that might take quite long. 

Lithium has unknown effects on the fetus that are still being studied. Hence, psychiatrists are careful in prescribing its doses to pregnant women. It is safe to say that you could continue to buy lithium and make full use of its benefits.