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  • Review Article
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Flash Joule heating for synthesis, upcycling and remediation

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 1, pages 32–54 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electric heating methods are being developed and used to electrify industrial applications and lower their carbon emissions. Direct Joule resistive heating is an energy-efficient electric heating technique that has been widely tested at the bench scale and could replace some energy-intensive and carbon-intensive processes. In this Review, we discuss the use of flash Joule heating (FJH) in processes that are traditionally energy-intensive or carbon-intensive. FJH uses pulse current discharge to rapidly heat materials directly to a desired temperature; it has high-temperature capabilities (>3,000 °C), fast heating and cooling rates (>102 °C s−1), short duration (milliseconds to seconds) and high energy efficiency (~100%). Carbon materials and metastable inorganic materials can be synthesized using FJH from virgin materials and waste feedstocks. FJH is also applied in resource recovery (such as from e-waste) and waste upcycling. An emerging application is in environmental remediation, where FJH can be used to rapidly degrade perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and to remove or immobilize heavy metals in soil and solid wastes. Life-cycle and technoeconomic analyses suggest that FJH can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions and be cost-efficient compared with existing methods. Bringing FJH to industrially relevant scales requires further equipment and engineering development.

Key points

  • Flash Joule heating (FJH) uses pulsed intense electric discharge to rapidly and directly heat materials for a short duration.

  • Carbon materials, such as graphene, and inorganic materials can be synthesized using FJH and a variety of feedstocks.

  • Waste can be managed and upcycled using FJH techniques, which are more energy efficient than conventional methods such as furnace-based heating.

  • Remediation of soil contaminated with heavy metals and organic pollutants is feasible at laboratory scales with FJH.

  • Life-cycle assessments suggest that compared with various other synthesis and waste management methods, FJH has reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions, especially when using waste feedstocks; FJH also appears to be cost-effective based on preliminary technoeconomic analyses.

  • FJH is largely demonstrated at the bench scale, but scale-up of FJH is now being demonstrated on an industrial scale for materials production.

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Fig. 1: FJH principle, equipment and scale-up.
Fig. 2: FJH for graphene and related carbon materials synthesis.
Fig. 3: FJH for phase-controlled synthesis of functional inorganic materials.
Fig. 4: Metal recovery and waste upcycling by FJH.
Fig. 5: Upcycling of waste plastics and biomass into flash graphene and clean hydrogen.
Fig. 6: FJH for waste decontamination and soil remediation.
Fig. 7: Life-cycle assessment and technoeconomic analysis of processes conducted by FJH.

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Acknowledgements

Funding of the research is provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 92475112, B.D.), the National Key R&D Program of China (2024YFC3907000, B.D.), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-22-1-0526, J.M.T.), the US Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC grants (W912HZ-21-2-0050 and W912HZ-24-2-0027, J.M.T.), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (HR00112290122, J.M.T.) and the start-up funds of Tsinghua University (B.D.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Bing Deng  (邓兵)

  2. Applied Physics Program, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Lucas Eddy

  3. Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Lucas Eddy & James M. Tour

  4. Smalley-Curl Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Lucas Eddy & James M. Tour

  5. SLB, Houston, TX, USA

    Kevin M. Wyss

  6. School of Nanoscience and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

    Chandra Sekhar Tiwary

  7. Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    James M. Tour

  8. NanoCarbon Center, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    James M. Tour

  9. Rice Advanced Materials Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    James M. Tour

Authors
  1. Bing Deng  (邓兵)
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  2. Lucas Eddy
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  3. Kevin M. Wyss
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  4. Chandra Sekhar Tiwary
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  5. James M. Tour
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Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to the literature searching, writing, reviewing and editing of the manuscript. All aspects of the Review were overseen by J.M.T.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bing Deng  (邓兵) or James M. Tour.

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Competing interests

Some of the flash Joule heating processes and apparatus are the intellectual property of Rice University. B.D., L.E., K.M.W. and J.M.T. are listed as inventors on some issued patents or patent applications. The intellectual property of flash graphene synthesis has been licensed to Universal Matter Inc. and Universal Matter LLC. MTM Critical Metals and Flash Metals USA Inc. have licensed methods to remove metals from waste and ores. J.M.T. is a stockholder in these licensee companies, but he is not an officer, director or employee in the companies. All conflicts of interest are managed through regular disclosures to and compliance with Rice University’s Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance. K.M.W. is currently an employee of SLB. The authors declare no other competing interests.

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Nature Reviews Clean Technology thanks Xiangdong Zhu; Micah Green, who co-reviewed with Ramu Banavath; and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Glossary

Ceramic sintering

A process of compacting solid materials that results in a more durable, stronger and harder mass, owing to pressure and high heat that force the atoms to bond more tightly with each other.

Critical metals

A group of metals that are vital to high-tech applications, such as rare earth metals, but whose secure supply is potentially at risk of restriction.

Dielectric heating

The process in which a radiofrequency alternating electric field, radio wave or microwave electromagnetic radiation heats a dielectric material.

Direct heating

The process of transferring heat directly to a target material without using an intermediary fluid or medium. The heat source is in direct contact with the target, or the heat is generated inside the target itself.

Electric arc heating

An electrothermal process in which an electric arc is formed between two electrodes, generating high temperatures.

Flash graphene

The turbostratic graphene produced by the flash Joule heating process.

Flash Joule heating

A resistive heating process that uses pulsed current passing through the target material to rapidly heat it to a high temperature directly followed by ultrafast cooling.

Flash sintering

A sintering technology that involves the application of a direct electrical field via customized electrodes to a material body during the sintering process.

Indirect heating

The process of transferring heat to a target materials through an intermediate.

Induction heating

The process of heating electrically conductive materials by electromagnetic induction, in which heat transfer passing through an inductor that creates an electromagnetic field within the coil to heat up.

Life-cycle assessment

A methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all stages of the life cycle of a product, process or service.

Metastability

An intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system’s state of least energy.

Metastable materials

Materials that have metastable phases with kinetically trapped states with positive free energy above the thermodynamically equilibrium state; these phases can exhibit unique properties compared with their stable counterparts.

Ordered graphene

Ordered graphene refers to graphene that exhibits a high degree of structural organization, typically in terms of its atomic arrangement, stacking or alignment. It implies a regular and well-defined crystalline structure, as opposed to disordered or amorphous forms of graphene.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances

A group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain.

Solid-state synthesis

A method used to produce materials by reacting solid-phase precursors without involving a liquid or gaseous medium; this process typically involves heating the solid reactants to a high temperature to facilitate the reaction.

Spark plasma sintering

A ceramic sintering process involving the application of pulsed direct current and uniaxial pressure to the powder within a die.

Technoeconomic analysis

A method of analysing the economic performance of an industrial process, product or service.

Upcycling

The process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality or higher value.

Urban mining

The extraction of valuable materials, such as metals, from discarded urban materials, particularly electronic wastes.

Variable frequency drive

A type of a.c. motor drive that controls speed and torque by varying the frequency of the input electricity.

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Deng, B., Eddy, L., Wyss, K.M. et al. Flash Joule heating for synthesis, upcycling and remediation. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 32–54 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-024-00002-4

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