Critical Materials Hub
Electric vehicles rely on powerful magnets that use the critical material neodymium. Photo credit: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) |
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"The DOE Energy Innovation Hubs represent a new, more proactive approach to managing and conducting research…We can build creative, highly-integrated research teams that can accomplish more, faster, than researchers working separately." —Secretary Chu |
Critical materials are elements that are key resources in manufacturing energy-related technologies. These materials are so critical for meeting our country's energy needs that the Energy Department is launching a Critical Materials Hub to reduce the impact of associated supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations.
The Critical Materials Hub will establish a sustained multidisciplinary effort to develop solutions across the lifecycle of critical materials. This Hub will bring together scientists and engineers from diverse disciplines to address challenges in critical materials, including mineral processing, manufacture, substitution, efficient use, and end-of-life recycling. The Hub will integrate scientific research, engineering innovation, and manufacturing and process improvements to provide a holistic solution to the materials challenges facing the nation.
This collaborative research effort will build on The Department's 2010 and 2011 Critical Materials Strategy reports. Using a methodology adapted from the National Academy of Sciences, the reports assessed dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, europium, and yttrium as critical materials essential for clean energy supply and production.1,2
The Critical Materials Hub is one of a series of Energy Innovation Hubs to rapidly accelerate scientific discovery for critical energy technologies. Established Hubs include the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, which focuses on advanced research to produce fuels directly from sunlight; the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, which is seeking to improve nuclear reactors through sophisticated computer-based modeling and simulation; and the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Buildings, which is working to achieve major breakthroughs in energy efficient building design.
The Critical Materials Hubs are part of the Administration's broad-based, clean energy research strategy to harness American innovation. This strategy is focused on needed breakthroughs in important technologies to grow the clean energy economy and generate new, clean energy jobs.
Learn more from our workshop on critical materials. Read the Funding Opportunity Announcement, and press release.
1 U.S. Department of Energy. 2010. Critical Materials Strategy. Washington, DC: DOE.
2 U.S. Department of Energy. 2011. Critical Materials Strategy. Washington, DC: DOE.