Ames National Laboratory and Indium Corporation have announced a research and development (R&D) partnership that seeks to expand production of gallium—an indispensable material for semiconductors and LED lighting—in the United States. Leveraging the automation and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities at Ames Lab, the partnership aims to strengthen domestic supply chains for this critical element, which currently relies almost exclusively on foreign imports.
“There is currently no domestic gallium production and no complete U.S. gallium supply chain,” said Ames Lab scientist and project leader Long Qi, an expert in chemical separations and catalysis. “The partnership goal is to change that, and the effort aligns well with the Department of Energy’s mission to develop critical materials production here.”
Gallium is a byproduct of the first step of the well-established and high-volume method of producing aluminum. Called the Bayer process, it uses caustic liquids and high temperatures to extract and refine alumina from bauxite ore. Gallium is typically present in the waste from the refining process in very low concentrations (about 100 parts per million).
While the concentrations are low, Ames Lab and Indium Corp., a materials refiner and manufacturer, see an opportunity to innovate a process that efficiently separates and extracts gallium as an additional high-value material during aluminum production.
“This collaboration brings together advanced research capabilities and deep materials expertise to address a critical gap in the U.S. supply chain,” said Ross Berntson, President and CEO of Indium Corporation. “By focusing on scalable, data-driven solutions, we’re working to enable more reliable access to gallium for the industries that depend on it.”
Liquid-based refining methods typically use specialized polymers, called resins, which can separate and concentrate metals from mining solutions. For this project, a team of researchers at Ames Lab will design and develop a heat stable and efficient resin that is selective for gallium.
In the past, the R&D stage for new materials has taken 10 to 20 years. But Ames Lab has developed innovative robotic lab capabilities that can carry out a large number of experiments and generate high-quality data quickly. When paired with AI tools, the data can be rapidly analyzed to uncover patterns, optimize processes, and guide the iterative design of materials. These accelerated workflows can shrink the development timeline from decades to as little as two to three years.
“By using our automated chemistry capabilities and AI tools, we can generate over 100 data points daily for our AI model. This dramatically accelerates our timeline for developing a solution that surpasses current industry-leading materials.” said Qi.
Scaling the technology is a joint effort, which will be done through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA): Indium Corp. will provide a U.S. resin testbed that mirrors high-volume production and techno-economic models to define the required material properties, and Ames Lab will synthesize materials up to the hundreds-of-grams scale. Future scale-up to kilograms and tons will continue collaboratively.
In addition to Qi, the Ames National Laboratory team consists of Ames Lab scientists Lun An and Zachery Crandall, and joint faculty member Theresa Windus, department chair and distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University. Robert Ploessl, product manager for metals and compounds, leads the CRADA partnership for Indium Corp.
“This work is an important step toward unlocking new value for existing industrial processes,” said Ploessl. “By combining innovative materials development with practical scale-up pathways, we are laying the groundwork for more resilient and sustainable sourcing of critical elements.”
The work builds on foundational research in AI and automated chemistry supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds and the Critical Materials Innovation Hub, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Lab and managed by the Office of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, a suboffice within the DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation.
Ames National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science National Laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies, and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities, and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems.
Ames Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit https://energy.gov/science.