Technology-Critical Metals/Minerals
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission deadline
We are excited to announce an upcoming topical collection in npj Materials Sustainability dedicated to "Technology-Critical Metals/Minerals." This collection is designed to explore and address the multifaceted challenges and opportunities in the field of materials sustainability, focusing specifically on critical metals and minerals essential for technological applications. By featuring a broad spectrum of research topics, we aim to highlight advancements and innovative approaches that can significantly enhance the sustainability and efficiency of critical materials used in various high-tech industries.
This collection will encompass a diverse range of topics, inviting contributions that span various areas of interest:
- Recycling and circular economy of critical minerals in batteries, electronics, and other clean energy products
- Technoeconomic, life cycle, and environmental assessment of extractive, processing, manufacturing, and recycling technologies for critical minerals
- Sustainable critical minerals extraction technologies
- Design of advanced materials for improved performance and sustainability of batteries, electronics, and other clean energy products
- Use of artificial intelligence and/or machine learning approaches to design and optimize sustainable processes for critical mineral extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling
We encourage submissions that offer novel insights, employ rigorous methodologies, and contribute to advancing our understanding of sustainable materials development.
Editors
-
Daniel S. Alessi, PhD
Professor, University of Alberta, Canada
-
Dan Tsang, PhD
Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
-
Yuanzhi Tang, PhD
Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Daniel S. Alessi, PhD, University of Alberta, Canada
Professor Daniel S. Alessi's research interests lie in the chemistry of environmental surfaces, the study of unconventional resources including critical minerals extraction, and the transport, fate, and environmental remediation of metals and organics contamination. Along with conducting research and mentoring the undergraduate and graduate students of his lab, he teaches courses at the University of Alberta, including Planet Earth, Environmental Geochemistry, and Contaminant Hydrogeology. He also serves on the editorial boards of several professional journals, including as Editor-in-Chief of Geochemical Transactions. He was elected to the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada in 2022, and named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2023.
Dan Tsang, PhD, The Hong Kong Univ
ersity of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Dan Tsang’s research at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology aspires to develop green technologies for carbon reduction, design sustainable biomass-derived carbon for emerging applications, pioneer a new research landscape of carbon-efficient processes, and promote resource circulation and sustainable development.
Yuanzhi Tang, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Dr. Tang’s research interests address the complex interworking between human activities and the natural environment by exploring the biogeochemical reactions at solid-liquid interfaces. By employing advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, her highly interdisciplinary research aims to correlate molecular scale mechanisms with macroscopic and field scale processes. Examples of her research topics include contaminant fate and transport, the occurrence and biogeochemical cycling of critical nutrients and metals, microbially mediated mineral formation and transformation, recovery of critical resources, and applications of synchrotron techniques.
