TS-073184 — Direct air capture (DAC) technologies are essential for meeting global carbon‑reduction goals, yet most current systems remain limited by high energy demand, high cost, and materials with insufficient stability. Traditional solid‑sorbent DAC approaches require significant thermal input for reg…

TS-072576 — The Need Drinking water utilities face mounting challenges in managing alum sludge, a byproduct of water treatment, as landfill options dwindle and disposal costs rise. Simultaneously, utilities must address increasingly stringent regulations for organic contaminants such as disinfection byproducts …

TS-071748 — Pipeline and recirculating water systems lose significant energy to turbulent friction. Today’s polymer DRAs are effective in hydrocarbons but irreversibly shear‑degrade, need continual re‑injection, and cannot be “turned off” in heat exchangers. Earlier aqueous surfactant DRAs reduced p…

TS-071746 — The Need Oil spills continue to pose significant threats to aquatic environments, public health, and economies worldwide. Existing sorbent technologies struggle to efficiently capture thin oil sheens and often lack buoyancy, limiting their effectiveness in real-world conditions. There is a critica…

TS-071386 — The Need The search for sustainable, high-performance battery materials is hindered by reliance on finite metal-based resources and slow, trial-and-error development cycles. Organic electrode materials (OEMs), composed of earth-abundant elements, offer a more sustainable path but present challenges …

TS-071267 — The Need Modeling solvent effects on catalytic surfaces is critical for designing industrial processes like biomass conversion, fuel synthesis, and electrocatalysis. Traditional multiscale simulations combining density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) offer accuracy but are comp…

TS-070630 — The Need Fixed bed chemical looping systems offer operational simplicity and minimal attrition compared to moving bed systems, but they suffer from transient behaviors like feed breakthrough, uneven solid conversion, and coking. These issues compromise efficiency, scalability, and product consistenc…

TS-070307 — The Need The rapid growth of electric vehicles and portable electronics demands lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that support fast charging without compromising cycle life or safety. Silicon anodes offer high theoretical capacity but suffer from severe volume expansion during cycling, leading to mechani…

TS-070030 — The Need Current photocatalytic technologies often require UV light for activation, limiting their efficiency and applicability under natural sunlight. Additionally, the short lifespan of photogenerated electrons and holes in TiO₂ nanoparticles hinders effective utilization. There is a need for a…

TS-068795 — The Need Renewable energy resources have gained global interest due to environmental issues, climate change, oil price and supply volatility, and decreasing nonrenewable fossil fuel sources. Butanol is a biofuel alternative that can provide a higher heating value, lower volatility, polarity, cor…