Sept 2024: E-waste — including smartphones, laptops and spent batteries — contains critical materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel essential for electrochemical energy storage applications. However, traditional recycling methods often rely on harsh chemicals and energy-intensive processes, creating environmental and economic challenges.  With a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the project will use deep learning models to design novel solvents and nanomaterials to recover critical metal from spent batteries. Our team will collaborate closely with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to access their world-class user facilities including neutron scattering, nanomaterials synthesis, nanofabrication, and characterization instrumentations. Through this research we hope to address a more sustainable and resilient supply chain for critical minerals by moving away from processing technologies with large carbon footprints. The research team includes Isabel C. Escobar, Rick Honaker, and Qing Shao, a collaboration with chemical engineering and mining engineering in the Pigman College of Engineering.