Online Platgorm

21/03/2022

16/03/2022

Researchers at Boston College have found an intricate landscape of electronic states that are capable of cohabiting on a kagome lattice, reminiscent of those in high-temperature superconductors.
The study centred around a bulk single crystal of a topological Kagome metal called CsV3Sb5, a metal that becomes superconducting at temperatures of minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit. The novel materials are constructed from atomic planes comprised of Vanadium atoms organised on a kagome lattice – a pattern of interlaces triangles and hexagons – arranged on top of each other, with Cesium and Antimony spacer layers between the kagome planes.

The team’s findings have been published in the journal Nature, in a report titled “Cascade of correlated electron states in a kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5.”

16/03/2022

The permanent location of the National Cyber Force campus has been revealed, and the joint MoD and GCHQ partnership is helping to keep the UK safe as the new home of offensive cyber operations.
The National Cyber Force (NCF) was revealed by the Prime Minister as part of the Integrated Review in November 2020.

Samlesbury is to become the permanent site of the NCF, which will strengthen the North-West region’s status as the cyber hub of Britain. The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) already have an office in Manchester, which is Europe’s quickest developing tech cluster, with more than 15% of Manchester’s population employed by the digital, creative and technology sector.

16/03/2022

EIT InnoEnergy has announced a substantial investment in MECAWARE, a French battery recycling start-up that aims to provide electric vehicles with recycled batteries.
This €2.5 million funding round, which is going towards building MECAWARE’s first pilot site in Lyon, France, comes as one in 12 cars sold across Europe between April and June 2021 ran on batteries alone. With electric vehicle (EV) sales projected to exceed 1.17 million in Europe this year, it is clear that there is a vital need for feasible, sustainable alternatives to meet battery demand through recycling.

Recycled batteries for electric vehicles
MECAWARE is a start-up that focuses on the recycling of technological waste from batteries, with the objective of providing EVs with recycled batteries by 2025. Through a newly established extraction process, it retrieves critical metals and rare minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and lanthanides in a sustainable way to enable their industrial reuse. Once complete, the strategic raw materials are returned to the market as “green ingots”, with very high levels of efficacy and purity – from 98% to >99.9% – in line with the industrial needs of the sector.

16/03/2022

Cornish Lithium’s Alistair Salisbury discusses the utilisation of hyperspectral and drone data to enhance sustainable exploration for lithium in Cornwall.
The World Bank predicts a dramatic rise in the demand for technology and battery metals, including lithium. It is forecasting demand to increase by 500% from 2017 levels by 2050. To meet these ever-growing raw material requirements for clean technologies, it has become imperative to expand exploration for commodities such as lithium to new unconventional targets.

Some of these new targets include lithium enriched geothermal waters circulating at depth in Cornwall. Cornish Lithium’s project in the UK differs from those seen elsewhere on the globe. Brine projects, such as those found in the Atacama Desert in South America, require evaporation ponds that utilise vast amounts of water, in an area where water resources are incredibly scarce, and need huge areas of land. Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) technologies, such as those being trialled by Cornish Lithium, can provide the same lithium compounds, but use a fraction of the resources and have much smaller surface footprints. A domestic lithium resource for the UK will reduce the carbon footprint of supply chains, as well as encouraging sustainable extraction and a greener approach to lithium mining.