Research

Research

The Critical Minerals Hub convenes faculty from the Pratt School of Engineering, Nicholas School of the Environment, Trinity School of Arts & Sciences and Sciences, and Sanford School of Public Policy. All members of the Hub maintain active research projects that address one or more aspects of the critical mineral system.

Through generous support from the Duke Provost’s Office, the Critical Minerals Hub will sponsor interdisciplinary research that supports our mission and initiates new, cross-cutting research that is needed to tackle complex, critical minerals challenges.

Check back soon for information on our first round of Hub-funded, interdisciplinary research projects.

Learn More About Our Team
man wearing hard hat carries bucket in water, mountains in the background
Gordon Williams, PhD student from the Vengosh Lab collects lithium-rich brines from Silver Peak, Nevada.
a bright light shines on a small solar cell held in place by delicate instruments
Solar cell device is measured under a solar simulator in the Mitzi Lab.
two people crouched in a green field collect soil samples on a blue tarp
Anna Altman from the Hsu-Kim Lab assists with field sampling.

Thematic Research Areas

The following thematic research areas represent the collective, cross disciplinary expertise represented in the Critical Minerals Hub as well as the domains of research we intend to connect through our research initiatives over the next three years.

Conventional and Unconventional Resources of Critical Minerals and their Environmental Impacts

Existing Research Projects (PI)
  • The origin of lithium in brines in the Lithium Triangle of South America (Vengosh)
  • Critical mineral signatures in soil minerals in North Carolina (Richter)
  • Rare earth elements extraction from acid mine drainage and coal ash in Appalachia (Hsu-Kim)
  • The potential and extraction of rare earth elements from phosphate mining wastes (Vengosh)
  • The environmental implications of lithium mining (Vengosh, Weinthal)

Resilient Materials Infrastructure

Existing Research Projects (PI)
  • Sodium-based low-cost battery materials (Chi, Delaire)
  • Critical minerals use for organic-inorganic perovskites (Mitzi)
  • Hierarchical structures of porous materials for clean energy storage applications (Veveakis, Blum)
  • Development of efficient non-metal, visible-light photocatalyst (Gilbertson)

Policy, Society, and Systems Implications

Existing Research Projects (PI)
  • Current and future scenarios of the U.S. electric grid (Patino-Esheverri)
  • Global and domestic governance and supply chains (Weinthal, Marion-Suiseeya)
  • The geopolitics of the critical minerals supply chain (Park)
  • The impact and resilience of local communities to critical minerals mining (Marion-Suiseeya, Weinthal, Vengosh)

Research Posters

Efficient, Precise, Scalable Simulations of Complex Materials and Their Chemistry
Tackling Critical Minerals Sustainability Challenges
Critical Minerals in Acid Mine Drainage Wastes: Minerology and Recovery
Critical Minerals Research - Vengosh Lab
Using Isotopic Analysis to Study Critical Mineral Deposits and Supply Chain
Geopolitics of the Critical Minerals Supply Chain
Flow-Architected Materials for Energy and the Environment
Comparative Global Governance

Publications

2025

  • Hall, G.A., Williams, G.D.Z.,  Sirbescu, M-L.C., Lu, P.L., Dwyer, G.S., Richter, D.D., Vengosh, A. (2025) Strontium isotopes and Rb/Sr tracers in surface soils for locating subsurface lithium pegmatites. Applied Geochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2025.106631
  • Ledebur, K., & Weinthal, E. (2025). Critical minerals governance in Bolivia: Prior consultation, rights, and international standards. Environment and Security, 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796251385008
  • Nativ, P., Williams, G.D.Z., Vengosh, A. (2025) Discrepancies Between pH and Corrosive Indexes of Hypersaline Effluents. Environmental Science & Technology Letters https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.5c01196
  • Trost, J. N., Dunn, J. B., & Marion Suiseeya, K. R. (2025). Holistic, Literature-Informed Critical Mineral Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines: An Essential Foundation for the Energy Transition. ACS Engineering Au. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsengineeringau.5c00075
  • Williams, G.D.Z., Petrović, M., Hill, R.C., Hall, G.A., Vengosh, A. (2025) The Water Quality Impacts of Legacy Hard-Rock Lithium Mining and Processing. Environmental Science and Technology. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c13682

 

2026

  • Williams, G.D.Z., Barre, J., Louvat, P., Bérail, S., Millot, R., Vengosh, A. (2026) Geochemical controls on the formation of lithium brines in closed-basins of the Lithium Triangle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 679, 119849, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2026.119849

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