Metals

E-waste is a major environmental hazard, full of valuable metals. Engineers at Rice University have now shown that precious metals and rare earth minerals can be recovered by flash-heating ground-up electronics with a zap of electricity.

Although magnesium is known for being lightweight, riveting pieces of it together can be an involved, energy-intensive process. A new technique is claimed to make doing so much simpler, possibly opening up new uses for the metal.

A new, surprisingly simple method merges two metals into one nanocrystal structure. This could allow almost any two metals to be combined, creating brand new types of intermetallic nanocrystals that could be useful for a whole range of applications.

Researchers have discovered a material that can switch between an insulator and a conductor freely, even at room temperature. The material, a compound of manganese and sulfide (MnS2), starts off as an insulator but becomes conductive under pressure.

Many renewable energy technologies require metals that are mined through environmentally destructive processes. Now, Oxford scientists are investigating a new way to mine valuable metals trapped in hot brines beneath volcanoes.

Engineers have found a way to make liquid metals switch between reflective surfaces or those that scatter light. The transition only requires a small zap of electricity and could be used to make mirrors that can be switched on or off.

Extracting and refining copper into a useful form can be energy intensive and requires harsh chemical treatments. But now researchers at the University of Houston have discovered bacteria that naturally convert toxic copper ions into metallic copper.

Previously, scientists at the National University of Singapore have produced aerogels made from scrapped car tires and pineapple leaves, and now they're showing off a new version that is produced from upcycled metal waste.

Metal fatigue is a huge problem when it comes to building and maintaining everything from aircraft to wind turbines. An Australian system is redefining how to pinpoint structural stress using a compact alternative to traditional mechanical strain gauges.

Despite their prevalence, only a tiny fraction of rare earth magnets are recycled from discarded electronics, but a new project involving Bentley Motors is intended to steer this trend back in the right direction.

Researchers at Brown University have developed a new way to make super-hard metals, up to four times harder than usual. The team made nanoparticle “building blocks” that could be fused together under pressure, thanks to a chemical treatment.

The ingenuity of bacteria keeps surprising scientists. The latest example is a species called Geobacter sulfurreducens, which has now been found to survive exposure to toxic cobalt by building a metal “suit” like a tiny little Iron Man.