World Materials Forum
Newsletter #25

Dear all

Another eventful month especially in the field of critical materials: a flurry of innovations on the path towards affordable and high performance EVs (lithium iron, silicon anodes or advanced aqueous batteries) but also the breakthrough idea of peer to peer charging developed by the department of electrical and computer engineering at University of Florida in order to make the batteries no longer the bottleneck to electrified mobility...

Some new angles as well at the policy and strategy levels with the mining industry appealing to more states and/or more car makers’ involvement in order to support the long investment cycles in high quality ores of critical materials.

Microwave plasma is also back in the race with a new jet propulsion technology coming from Wuhan University or a new technology of metal powder feedstocks for additive manufacturing and the production of advanced batteries by a start up rooted at MIT... And some interesting results at Penn State with graphene used as an additive for making carbon fibers lower cost and stronger.

On the sustainability front, we picked two examples this month, this of Beiersdorf and Evonik developing CO2 as a raw material for beauty products on an industrial scale and this of John Schramski at University of Georgia proposing to focus our efforts on reducing food related energy consumption much more than on accelerating transition to renewable energy...

And finally some good news (be deals, awards, fundings, new product launches or papers) coming from our WMF start up alumni with Ajelis (France), BComp (Switzerland), Carbios (France), Fluency Analytics (USA), Genes’Ink (France), Imagine Intelligent Materials (Australia), Membrasenz (Switzerland), Opus 12 (USA), Polyspectra (USA) and Safi Organics (Kenya). Wishing as always that you enjoy the reading.

Wishing as always that you enjoy the reading.

Victoire de Margerie & Philippe Varin

CRITICAL RESOURCES

Spectrum IEEE, April 30th:
Peer to peer charging instead of more efficient batteries?

Bloomberg, May 4th:
The Mountain Pass mine brought as a good example of the debate over US industrial policy by James Litinsky at MP Materials

World Bank, May 11th:
Over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, in order to achieve below 2°C future?

Bloomberg, May 11th:
Carmakers urged to invest in mining by Sam Riggall at CleanTeq

The Verge, May 14th:
Lithium Iron batteries by Tesla and CATL to make EVs affordable?

Stockhead, May 24th:
About the importance of iron ore grade...

MATERIALS SCIENCES

AIP Advances, May 5th:
Jet propulsion, air and plasma at Wuhang University

Ecogeneration, May 7th:
A good overview of the steps on the road towards silicon anodes by Mahdokht Shaibani at Monash University

Forbes, May 12th:
High frequency microwave plasma technology to produce the materials of the future?

Science Daily, May 18th:
Graphene-reinforced carbon fiber may lead to affordable, stronger car materials

Sciences Advances, May 22nd:
A roadmap for advanced aqueous batteries from the University of Adelaide.

SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES

Cosmetics Design, May 14th:
Beiersdorf and Evonik developing CO2 as a raw material for beauty products on an industrial scale

Phys. Org, May 22nd :
A challenging approach by John Schramski at University of Georgia with a focus on reducing food related energy consumption more than on accelerating transition to renewable energy

OUR START UPS ALUMNI ARE IN THE NEWS!

Ajelis (N 2018), April 20th:
Protective masks to protect against COVID 19 contamination

BComp (N 2018), May 14th:
BComp composites to be used by marine manufacturers for yachts

Carbios (N 2017), April 15th:
Technip FMC to assist Carbios in building a plant that demonstrates Carbios’s Enzymatic Recycling Process

Fluence Analytics (N 2019), March 2020:
Online monitoring of styrene butadiene reaction explained in Rubber World

Genes’Ink (N 2017), May 26th:
Project GreenSense to develop test sensors

Imagine Intelligent Materials (N 2018), April 24th:
Grant from the Australian government to explore the application of advanced materials on military body armor

Membrasenz (Grand Prix 2019), May 19th:
Now a finalist of the Swiss de Vigier Awards that will be announced on June 10th

Opus 12 (N 2019), May 13th:
How to convert CO2 into jet fuel... or polycarbonate

Polyspectra (N 2018), May 6th:
Faster move into medical devices

Safi Organics (N 2019), May 18th:
Turning farm wastes into efficient and affordable fertilizers