MPS-Ascend: CRITICAL METALS FROM COMPLEX WASTE STREAMS: AN ELECTROCHEMISTRY ROADMAP TO SELECTIVE EXTRACTION

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。Chavis a . Stackhouse博士被授予NSF数学和物理科学提升博士后研究奖学金（NSF MPS-Ascend），以开展一项与扩大STEM中代表性不足群体参与相关的研究和活动计划。这项奖学金支持斯塔克豪斯博士的研究，题为“MPS-Ascend：复杂废物流中的关键金属：选择性提取的电化学路线图”，在赞助资深科学家的指导下。该奖学金的主办机构是德克萨斯农工大学，赞助科学家是Sarbajit Banerjee博士和Karen Wooley博士。通过这项奖学金，斯塔克豪斯博士研究了利用节能和电化学工艺从复杂的废物流中选择性地回收高纯度稀土元素的新方法，以推进从废物流中回收稀土元素（REEs）。稀土元素对于能源转型、制造业竞争力和国家安全至关重要。目前的工业回收工作受到下列因素的阻碍：获得的稀土元素数量有限，缺乏适合回收消费品中不断演变的复杂金属混合物中存在的少量稀土元素的商业回收技术，以及单位金属价值低，这使得依赖初级来源更具成本效益。这些问题加剧了国家对外国自然资源的依赖。该项目利用一类被称为离子液体（ILs）的盐的独特性质，从商业废物流（例如，永磁体，计算设备等）中有针对性地回收稀土金属。借助先进的表征工具，如尖端的同步加速器x射线光谱学技术，研究人员通过阐明稀土溶剂化的详细机制理解，以及开发基本的电化学和化学设计原则，为从废物流中获得稀土金属提供了新的途径，从而提高了该研究界的集体知识。除了更广泛的社会影响，例如减轻废物流中稀土元素对环境的影响以及对外国稀土元素来源的依赖，斯塔克豪斯博士通过该奖学金积极扩大代表性不足的少数民族在STEM中的参与。他为两所为少数族裔服务的大学——Prairie View a&m和Texas a&m Kingsville——的本科生开发了一个指导项目，这两所大学分别是一所为HBCU和一所为西班牙裔服务的大学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Dr. Chavis A. Stackhouse is awarded a NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and activities related to broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Stackhouse supports his research entitled “MPS-Ascend: Critical Metals from Complex Waste Streams: An Electrochemical Roadmap to Selective Extraction”, under the mentorship of sponsoring senior scientists. The host institution for the fellowship is Texas A&M University, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Sarbajit Banerjee and Dr. Karen Wooley.With this fellowship, Dr. Stackhouse investigates new methods to advance the recovery of rare-earth elements (REEs) from waste streams using energy efficient and electrochemical processes to selectively recover rare-earth elements in high purity from complex waste streams. REEs are crucial elements to technologies important to the energy transition, manufacturing competitiveness, and national security. Current industrial recycling efforts are impeded by the limited amount of REE obtained, lack of commercial recycling technologies suitable for the recovery of the small amount of REEs present in the evolving complex mixture of metal within consumer products, and low metal value per unit, which makes dependence upon primary sources more cost-effective. These issues compound national reliance on foreign natural resources. This project exploits the unique properties of a class of salts known as ionic liquids (ILs) for a targeted recovery of rare-earth metals from commercial waste streams (e.g., permanent magnets, computing devices, etc.). With the help of advanced characterization tools, such as cutting-edge synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy techniques, the researcher advances the collective knowledge of this research community, by elucidating a detailed mechanistic understanding of rare-earth solvation, and the developing fundamental electrochemical and chemical design principles that offer new routes to obtain rare earth metal from waste streams. In addition to societal broader impacts, exemplified by mitigating the environmental impact of REEs in waste streams as well as the reliance upon foreign sources of REEs, Dr. Stackhouse actively broadens participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM with this fellowship. He develops a mentoring program for undergraduate students from two minority-serving institutions, Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M Kingsville, an HBCU and Hispanic-serving institution, respectively.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.