US funds fish-like robots to harvest lithium from seawater

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $45.7 million in grants to 19 projects aimed at boosting domestic critical mineral technology. Among the recipients is Texas A&M University, which received funding to develop fish-like nanorobots designed to harvest lithium ions directly from seawater. This initiative is part of a broader effort to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign sources for essential minerals like lithium, which are crucial for batteries and energy storage. AI

IMPACT Accelerates development of critical mineral supply chains essential for AI hardware and energy storage.

RANK_REASON Significant government funding for a novel critical mineral extraction technology. [lever_c_demoted from significant: ic=1 ai=0.4]

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• Big Blue Technologies
• Idaho National Laboratory
• lithium
• Ohio University
• Princeton University
• Texas A&M University
• U.S. Department of Energy
• USA Rare Earth
• Vanderbilt University

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• other

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