materials science

Purity at a Premium in Critical Metals

November 22, 2024

PURITY AT A PREMIUM in critical metals

November 22, 2024
Above: Nd hydride made from Md oxides using the HAMR process. Credit: Pei Sun

U Researchers Secure Major Funding to Advance Critical Metals Production

 

Think about the device you're reading this on. Whether it's a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, it contains dozens of rare earth elements and critical metals that make its operation possible. Yet the United States currently relies on foreign sources for approximately 90% of some of these essential materials, creating vulnerabilities in our supply chain for everything from consumer electronics to clean energy technology

The Free lab (from left): Easton Sadler, Prashant Sarswat, Mike Free, Benjamin Schroeder. Credit: Todd Anderson

The University of Utah is taking bold steps to address this challenge. Mike Free and Prashant Sarswat, metallurgical engineers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering,have secured two significant funding awards to advance innovative technologies for rare earth elements (REE) and critical metals (CM) processing.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded $220,446 for developing refined REE and CM products at 90% purity. Additionally, the Department of Energy (DOE) has committed $5 million to support a comprehensive project focused on upgrading mineral resources and optimizing extraction and separation processes to achieve an exceptional 99% purity level for some individual REE and CM products.

"We're starting with unconventional resources to build a larger supply chain here in the US," explains Free, principal investigator on the projects and department chair. "We are exploring new approaches that are more environmentally friendly. Some of the technologies we're developing, like our magnetic separation process, use no additional chemicals, which are very different from conventional processing that can require hundreds of steps and  typically involves substantial amounts of acid."

The research team, which includes graduate students Easton Sadler and Benjamin Schroeder, is developing innovative separation techniques, including a unique device that uses strong magnets to separate rare earth elements based on their magnetic properties. They are also exploring new environmentally friendly extraction methods using specialized materials that can selectively absorb specific elements.

Handling the challenge

Sarswat emphasizes the challenging nature of their work: "The properties of rare earth elements are so similar that existing methods and technologies are not very effective at separating them. With our methods, whether it's magnetic or physical separation or adsorption, we can handle that challenge."

The U is one of only two institutions selected in this competitive second DOE funding round, alongside Caltech. The project team includes collaborators from Virginia Tech and has secured crucial industrial partnerships for commercialization.

Ben Shroeder demonstrating device that uses strong magnets to separate rare earth elements based on their magnetic properties. Credit: Todd Anderson

The research aims to produce:

  • Five individually separated, high-purity rare earth oxides/salts at ~90-99.99% purity
  • Five individual or binary rare earth metals at ~99.5-99.8% purity
  • Five additional ~90-99% pure individual critical metals as oxides, salts or metals from coal byproducts

Graduate students Ben Schroeder and Easton Sadler’s application and improvement of groundbreaking techniques for separating rare earth elements — essential materials for advanced technologies like high-performance magnets and precision lasers — are complementary. Schroeder's approach harnesses the magnetic properties of rare earth elements, using powerful magnets to create a sophisticated separation process. "We have a solution with multiple metals, and we want them to not be mixed together," Shroeder explains. By flowing the solution over strategically positioned magnets, he creates concentration gradients that physically separate elements based on their magnetic susceptibility. Rare earth elements, which are more magnetically responsive, get pulled into specific channels, while elements that are not magnetically responsive continue flowing, resulting in increasingly pure elemental fractions.

In contrast, Shroeder’s colleague Sadler takes a chemical approach in the lab, focusing on developing more environmentally friendly extraction methods. "The state of the art now uses organic solutions and acid, which are expensive, corrosive, and toxic," Sadler notes. He's designing innovative solid materials coated with specialized extractants like graphene and trimesic acid that can selectively capture specific rare earth elements. Through iterative experimentation, Sadler is working to create materials that can withstand acidic environments while efficiently separating elements.

Further purification and conversion

From the Utah lab, the operational sequence of the purification process extends to collaborators Aaron Noble and Distinguished Professor Roe-HoanYoon at Virginia Tech, working with physical separations of REE and CM from unwanted minerals. Once those minerals are enriched in the elements desired, they are then dissolved to form ions which go through the magnetic or specialized absorbance processes that will further separate out remaining impurities.

Following that along with additional processing some pure product will be made and other precipitated oxide material will move through a conversion process that turns the precipitated material into metal. This last step will take place in the lab of metallurgical engineering colleagues in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zak Fang and Pei Sun.

focus on purity

Easton Sadler with samples of solid materials coated with specialized extractants. Credit: Todd Anderson

"Right now, China is supplying 90% of some of these markets,” explains Free, “which puts us in a vulnerable position domestically." Beyond science, this work is part of a strategic initiative to enhance national technological independence and security.

Applications of innovative separation techniques for rare earth elements cannot be overstated. Critical metals are fundamental to modern technologies like electric vehicles, semiconductors and electronic devices. By developing more environmentally friendly extraction methods, the team aims to increase the domestic supply chain for CM. "We're starting with unconventional resources, trying to build a larger supply chain here in the U.S.," Free explains. "We want to see the U.S. have more production of these critical things."

Why the focus on purity? As Sarswat notes, "For semiconductor integrated circuits or lasers, we need hyper-high purity levels. The whole device physics will be different if we're doping with impure materials."

“All along the way,” concludes Free, “We’re achieving higher and higher concentrations so that at end, we will be producing some of these materials at higher than 99% purity.”

Other than the how, how much and its expanding applications, the personal why for this bold enterprise is perhaps best articulated by graduate student Easton Sadler:  "I think I speak for Ben as well, but it's really cool to be at the cutting edge of this industry, sponsored by DARPA and the Department of Energy, working on something crucial to our economy and the country's welfare… . That makes me feel good; keeps me going in the lab.”

by David Pace

Humans of the U: Brenda Payan Medina

April 26, 2024

Humans of the U: Brenda Payan Medina

April 26, 2024
Above: Brenda Payan Medina. Credit:  Harriet Richardson/University of Utah

 

I’ve been involved in a lot of areas that are important to me outside of my engineering degree—I’ve worked at the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention, the Women’s Resource Center, the Center for Student Wellness and with the Utah Prison Education Project. All these positions work directly with students, which is why I decided to pursue a master’s degree in higher education at Columbia University next year.

 

I feel really connected to students who may be struggling, I think because of my own background as a first-generation student. Neither of my parents graduated high school and my grandparents didn’t finish elementary school. It feels like a big step for myself and my siblings to reach a point where we’re graduating college.

I applied to the U through the College of Science ACCESS Scholarship program and when I first got here, I had kind of a hard time. I literally don’t think I would’ve stayed on campus if it weren’t for the ACCESS director at the time, who really advocated for me. I was planning on transferring back home to Price because I had a whole support system down there. Here, there are definitely people willing to help you, but it’s harder to reach out when you’re used to figuring everything out your own, like I had been. I want to use what I learned to help other people have an easier experience navigating college and living away from home, because it can be super overwhelming to try to balance everything.

I’ve seen discourse on social media saying you don’t always need a college degree to succeed. But for students where education has historically not been a part of their family, I think it’s still important to pursue higher education even if it’s  inaccessible to them. It’s one of the reasons I started working with the Utah Prison Education Project and the STEM Community Alliance Program with the arts manager, where I help plan art classes and exhibitions for students in juvenile facilities. It’s really cool because a lot of the students find a drive to pursue their projects when they know their work will be shown at galleries. Working with UPEP and STEMCAP has given me a different perspective about what education looks like and what works for different people, and I’ll hopefully continue working with this population in a similar program at Columbia.

Read the rest of the story in @ The U. 

Metallurgical Engineering and IperionX Unveil New Research Facility

April 17, 2024

Metallurgical Engineering and IperionX Unveil New Research Facility

The new lab follows announcement of 10-year, $10 million agreement with titanium industry leader IperionX

Following the 10-year, $10 million research agreement announced earlier this year between the University of Utah’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Charlotte-based IperionX, the two partners, along with college and university leadership, celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art additive manufacturing research center on campus in the William Browning Building. The lab, which houses cutting-edge 3D titanium printing machines, will serve as a hub for the collaboration between Metallurgical Engineering Professor Zak Fang's powder metallurgy research team and IperionX as they work to advance metallurgical technologies for producing primary metals focused on titanium.

The opening of the lab, named the Titanium Additive Manufacturing Research Center, creates new opportunities for U students to gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge materials science and engineering technologies. The partnership aims to inspire the next generation of metallurgical innovators, equipping them with the skills and experience needed to pioneer breakthroughs in sustainable metal production and processing.

IperionX CEO Taso Arima.
Banner photo: Ribbon cutting, led by Provost Mitzi Montoya and IperionX CEO Taso Arima.

"This new lab represents the tangible fruits of our partnership with IperionX and underscores our shared commitment to developing transformative solutions for the energy and transportation sectors," said Fang, the lead researcher on the project. "By combining our academic expertise in materials science and engineering with IperionX's industry know-how and resources, we are poised to make significant strides in areas like additive manufacturing of titanium alloys and recycling of critical minerals."

IperionX’s role as a leader in sustainable titanium production is a key component of this collaborative research effort. The North Carolina-based company has patented technologies aimed at recycling the valuable metal at a lower cost and with reduced environmental impact compared to traditional methods. 

“IperionX is excited to continue its extensive collaboration with the University of Utah and Dr. Zak Fang,” said IperionX CEO Taso Arima. “It all started here at the University of Utah, with Dr. Fang’s innovation and his vision for manufacturing and re-shoring low-cost, high performance titanium metal in America. The Titanium Additive Manufacturing Research Center will allow us to continue to rapidly innovate, and we believe this center and continued work with Dr. Fang and his research team will assist to attract students to materials science and engineering — because this is what drives innovation for the critical technologies needed for the U.S. and society as a whole.”

"This academic-industry partnership of the Fang Lab and IperionX exemplifies the College of Science’s innovative bench-to-application research to meet the needs of our energy future," said Peter Trapa, Dean of the College of Science. "By supporting cutting-edge research that addresses real-world challenges, we are cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders and driving economic growth in Utah."

Joint efforts with industry partners have been part of the U's remarkable research growth over the past decade. In fiscal year 2023, university research funding reached a landmark $768 million, nearly doubling its support in the last ten years. As the U continues to work towards a goal of $1 billion in research funding, its leadership views industry collaboration as a vehicle to accelerate discovery and translate research into real-world applications.

“Collaborations like this one are virtuous cycles,” said Richard Brown, H. E. Thomas Presidential Endowed Dean of the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering. “Cutting-edge research and industry supporting one another is the backbone of a growing innovation economy.”

by Bianca Lyon

 

Creating effective organic semiconductors

February 15, 2024

Creating Effective organic semiconductors

 

California’s Silicon Valley and Utah’s Silicon Slopes are named for the element most associated with semiconductors, the backbone of the computer revolution. Anything computerized or electronic depends on semiconductors, a substance with properties that conduct electrical current under certain conditions. Traditional semiconductors are made from inorganic materials—like silicon—that require vast amounts of water and energy to produce.

^ Zlatan Aksamija. ^^ Banner photo above: Muhamed Duhandžić holds two pieces of the organic semiconductor—the blue polymer has been doped with an iodine dopant. PHOTO CREDIT: HARRIET RICHARDSON/UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

For years, scientists have tried to make environmentally friendly alternatives using organic materials, such as polymers. Polymers are formed by linking small molecules together to make long chains. The polymerization process avoids many of the energy-intensive steps required in traditional semiconductor manufacturing and uses far less water and fewer gasses and chemicals. They’re also cheap to make and would enable flexible electronics, wearable sensors and biocompatible devices that could be introduced inside the body. The problem is that their conductivity, while good, is not as high as their inorganic counterparts.

All electronic materials require doping, a method of infusing molecules into semiconductors to boost conductivity. Scientists use molecules, called dopants, to define the conductive parts of electrical circuits. Doping in organic materials has vexed scientists because of a lack of consistency—sometimes dopants improve conductivity while other times they make it worse.  In a new study, researchers from the University of Utah and University of Massachusetts Amherst have uncovered the physics that drive dopant and polymer interactions that explain the inconsistent conductivity issue.

Positively charged carriers are pulled back by negatively charged dopants from the polymer chains, preventing the flow of electrical current and tanking the material’s conductivity. The team discovered that, when enough dopants were injected into the system, the electrons’ behavior changed to act as a collective screen against the attractive forces, allowing the rest of the electrons to flow unimpeded.

“The ideal case would be to dump a bunch of free electrons into the material to do the work of conducting. Of course, we can’t—we have to use molecules to supply the electrons,” said Zlatan Akšamija, associate professor of materials science and engineering at the U and lead author of the study. “Our next step is to find the dopant/organic material combinations that can weaken that interaction and make the conductivity even higher. But we didn’t understand that interaction well enough to be able to tackle it until now.”

The study was published on Dec. 13, 2023, in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Read the full story by Lisa Potter in @theU.