Mine-on-a-chip: megascale opportunities for microfluidics in critical materials and minerals recovery

Abstract

The rising demand of mineral resources essential to the functionality of low-carbon energy technologies – critical minerals – and the security of their supply poses one of the most pressing bottlenecks toward energy sustainability. A suite of challenges arise, ranging from resource characterization to extraction and refining, that undergird the economic feasibilty and cradle-to-grave environmental compliance of decarbonization technologies. Myriad opportunities exist for the microfluidics community to engage, including materials characterization, mechanistic elucidation of extraction processes, chemical analyses, reagents screening, and separation device design, that leverage the distinct advantages of microfluidics, namely low sample and reagent requirements, ability to parallelize, and rapid and low cost testing. This perspective identifies key gaps and opportunities in securing the critical minerals supply, and aims to galvanize the LoC community in this critical research.