As electric vehicles become more common, the number of used lithium-ion batteries is soaring. These batteries contain valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, but current recycling methods often destroy the complex crystal structure that makes them work efficiently. Now, researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed a new molten salt technique that restores the structure and performance of used high-nickel cathode materials, offering a greener and more efficient route to battery recycling.

Global environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys significantly expand known geographic and ecological niche ranges of marine fish, highlighting current biases in conservation and ecological modeling

When patients undergo heart surgery, their kidneys face significant stress. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications after cardiac procedures, often resulting in longer hospital stays, higher costs and an increased risk of death. Now, a new collaboration between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) aims to change that, using artificial intelligence to alert clinicians to early signs of kidney trouble giving them critical time to intervene before lasting damage occurs.

A recent paper from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME), published in Nature Communications, built an active learning model that was able to explore a virtual search space of one million potential battery electrolytes starting from just 58 data points. From this minimal data, the team from the lab of UChicago PME Asst. Prof. Chibueze Amanchukwu identified four distinct new electrolyte solvents that rival state-of-the-art electrolytes in performance.