Amine functionalized graphene oxide yields laminates with an enhanced capacity to adsorb rare earth elements, improved water transport, and greater stability for effective membrane-based separation of critical minerals.

Using multiple specialized techniques, IDREAM researchers gained a better understanding of how trace impurities within gibbsite affect the hydrogen yield.

Replacing commercial acid with acidic waste enables researchers to improve nickel extraction efficiency, lower projected costs, and improve process economics.

Localized gradients in magnetic fields have long-range effects on the concentration of rare earth ions in solution, facilitating field-driven extraction of critical minerals.

Studying a series of rare earth element compounds revealed differences in their magnetic behavior that will be leveraged for separations.

Nanosize platelets of an aluminum material slide and join in a staggered orientation to form larger crystals.

PNNL researchers Daniel Deng and Yehia Ibrahim join the 2025 class of National Academy of Inventors Fellows.

IDREAM researchers uncovered how dimeric complexes control how aluminum hydroxide minerals dissolve.

Soil mineral preferentially incorporates rare earth elements based on size, with implications for critical mineral extraction.

ThermalTracker-3D can help streamline permitting, reduce costs, and shorten development time of energy projects.

Trace amounts of iron and chromium can incorporate into gibbsite, affecting how the mineral dissolves.

Expanding the nation’s largest wind power plant time series database; helping grid planners navigate a resilient energy future with better data.

Engineers at PNNL devised a system that allows radar antennae to maintain stable orientation while mounted on platforms in open water that pitch and roll unpredictably. They were recently invited to participate in DOE's I-Corps program.

Increasing concentrations of ions slows the rate of particle aggregation in boehmite suspensions.

PNNL's accomplishments in FY 2024 help address the remaining challenges the wind industry faces.

New IDREAM research explores the effects of electrolyte species on boehmite nanoparticle aggregation in legacy wastes.

Hydrogen atoms released and trapped in irradiated gibbsite are destabilized by synthetic-precursor residuals.

With the launch of a large research barge, PNNL and collaborators took another significant step to improve offshore wind forecasting that will lower risk and cost associated with offshore wind energy development.

PNNL and collaborators developed new models—recently approved by the U.S. Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC)—to help utilities understand how new grid-forming inverter technology will enhance grid stability.

Recycling polyolefin materials is challenging. One waste management strategy is plastic upcycling. New work demonstrates a single-step upcycling route coupling cracking and alkylation, recycling carbon and keeping valuable resources active.