The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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From promising solid-state battery technology that could eliminate range anxiety for electric vehicle owners to solar panels and thermoelectric devices that transform sunshine and heat into low-carbon energy, tellurium is emerging as a secret ingredient of the clean energy future. "It has flown largely under the radar, even though it's essential for cadmium-telluride solar panels and new lithium-tellurium batteries that could revolutionize energy storage," said Tyrone...
Two metals, nickel and titanium, come together in a unique alloy that is gaining popularity in new applications, including in outer space. Known as "nitinol," this high-demand metal is prized for its ability to snap back to a heat-trained shape after being pulled, twisted or deformed. Accidentally discovered by metallurgist William Buehler at the Navy Ordinance Laboratories in 1959, nitinol has been used in increasingly sophisticated applications over the years, finding...
Top electric vehicle battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution, which supplies Tesla and other automakers, announced on March 24 that it will invest approximately $5.5 billion in a complex in Queen Creek, Arizona. This investment marks the largest ever made for a stand-alone battery manufacturing facility in North America. Construction of the complex will break ground on two facilities this year; with $3.2 billion of the company's investment going to build a cylindrical EV...
Rare metalloid key element of CdTe thin-film solar cell tech The rising popularity of thin-film solar cells as a highly effective means of converting sunlight into electricity is creating increased demand for tellurium, amongst the rarest of the stable elements on the periodic table. Tellurium is a metalloid, one of seven elements with properties that fall between metals like aluminum and tin and non-metals like carbon and phosphorus. These semimetals, which also include...
Launches $20M consortium to boost American-made CdTe cells Increasing federal backing of American-made thin-film solar technologies is likely to increase the demand for tellurium, a key ingredient of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells. Tellurium is a metalloid, one of seven elements with properties that fall between metals like aluminum and tin and non-metals like carbon and phosphorus. These semimetals, which also include silicon and germanium, have natural semiconductive...
As part of a wider initiative to recover critical minerals as byproducts at its current mining operations, Rio Tinto is now producing the tellurium used in thin-film photovoltaic solar panels at its Kennecott copper operation in Utah. "We are proud to deliver a new domestic supply of tellurium to support the manufacturing of solar panels and other critical equipment here in the United States," said Rio Tinto Copper Chief Operating Officer Clayton Walker. This key ingredient...
Looking to lower the carbon footprint of the single largest gold-producing complex in the world, Nevada Gold Mines has turned to First Solar Inc. to provide enough cadmium-telluride thin-film photovoltaic solar modules to supply up to 17% of the energy needs of its Nevada gold mines. A joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Corp., the world's two largest gold mining companies, Nevada Gold Mines produces approximately 3.5 million ounces of gold a year. Joining a...
