Project Grant 1913628

This Cooperative Agreement from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program provides $976,200 to Nth Cycle Inc. to develop an electrochemical separation device for recycling cobalt and nickel from lithium-ion batteries. The two-year award running from February 2022 to January 2024 aims to validate Nth Cycle's novel electro-extraction nanotechnology for battery recycling and cobalt mining. Specifically, the company will test a flow-through water electrolysis process using high local...

The National Science Foundation awarded a $275,000 Project Grant to Reqyrd Inc. under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop separations of critical materials from lithium-ion battery black mass. The one-year project aims to establish domestic recyclability for energy materials like cobalt, lithium, manganese, carbon, and nickel that are currently reliant on imports. Through the exploitation of solubilities using sulfites, the grantee will determine...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $300,000 Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to Boston College to investigate a new biohydrometallurgic approach for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries. The project aims to utilize microorganisms, specifically Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans bacteria, to recover key battery cathode minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese in a green, self-sustaining manner. This 2-year project...

Summary This cooperative agreement, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) on September 1, 2025, provides $1,230,631 in funding to Khemia Metals Inc. for the development of base-metal alloy foils as cost-effective replacements for copper current collectors in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The project, which will conclude on August 31, 2027, represents a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award aimed at...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems awarded a $175,000 Project Grant to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to support research under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The project aims to advance a sustainable chemistry-based approach for extracting lithium ions from hypersaline aqueous brines, which have lower lithium-ion concentrations compared to other alkali metal cations. The...

The National Science Foundation awarded a $275,000 Project Grant to Piersica, Inc. under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop advanced polymer separator membranes for hybrid solid/liquid battery cells. The one-year project beginning September 15, 2022 aims to create a solid electrolyte with ionic conductivity comparable to liquid electrolytes currently used in lithium-ion batteries. The recipient will also develop a scalable solid separator using the...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $150,291 Clean Energy Technology (CET) Eager grant through its Division of Materials Research, Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program (CFDA 47.049 - Mathematical and Physical Sciences). The grant was awarded to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF-SUNY) at the University at Albany to develop a more sustainable and efficient method for recycling lithium-ion batteries. The project aims to isolate the individual...

Am Batteries Inc. received a $256,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Industrial Innovation under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) to develop a solvent-free manufacturing process for lithium-ion battery electrodes. The goal of the one-year project beginning February 1, 2022 is to design, manufacture, and operate a continuous feed dry spraying system to optimize fabrication of thicker battery electrodes without solvents. This novel...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award to Reegen Inc. for $275,000 will support the development of a clean, biological system for extracting and purifying rare earth elements (REEs) from various waste and end-of-life sources. The project aims to reduce the negative environmental impacts of REE production and decrease U.S. dependence on imported REEs, which are critical for manufacturing modern electronics and sustainable energy...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $650,000 over 4 years to the University of Illinois for research on developing sustainable strategies for separating and recovering rare-earth elements (REEs) and platinum group metals (PGMs) from waste streams. The project aims to create new electrically-driven separation systems using conductive polymer and carbon nanotube-based electrode materials that can selectively and...