Nobel Prize winner explains potential for tin use in lithium-ion batteries
Stanley Whittingham, jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019 as one of the founding fathers of lithium-ion batteries, has recently reviewed potential for tin in lithium-ion batteries and reported on his own team's tin R&D. In his paper published in...
Rusolovo leading Russian tin revival
Towards the end of the last century, Russia was a significant producer of tin concentrates, supplying both domestic and foreign smelters. However, output fell below 400 tonnes in 2009 and struggled to improve for some time. However, the Russian tin mining industry now...
Scientists discover why tin harvests heat so well
Thermoelectric materials are key to reducing the amount of energy that is lost as heat during electricity generation. In the US, it is estimated that 60% of the energy that goes into the economy is lost to the environment as waste heat. Recapturing just a small...
Minsur increases production in 2020 despite mine closure
New data from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines indicates that production at Minsur's San Rafael mine fell some 3% in November. The monthly Mining Statistics Bulletin (Boletín Estadístico Minero in Spanish) details mine production for all minerals in the...
Sodium-ion battery edges closer to lithium-ion performance with tin
For years, research and development of sodium-ion batteries has taken place alongside lithium-ion batteries as the two storage systems have very similar chemistries. Since the 1990s however, lithium-ion batteries were seen as being more commercially viable,...
Alphamin beats guidance, aims to increase production further
Alphamin beat guidance to produce nearly 2,900 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate in the final quarter of 2020. Tin production at the company's Mpama North mine increased 13% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to post a new quarterly record. The output of 2,898 tonnes of contained...
Illuminating research on tin perovskite solar cells
Solar is one of the fastest growing electricity sources in the world: 2019 saw solar PV energy generation increase by 22% year-on-year. New generation cheaper, more 'earth-abundant' technologies such as perovskite are in development but need to increase their...
Bacteria recover tin from e-waste
A team at Coventry University, UK have demonstrated the potential to recover tin from e-waste using bacteria. The team's initial results demonstrate that tin recovery from a printed circuit board (PCB) sample can reach 100%. E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream...
Low-cost tin catalyst discovered for hydrogen cells
The world needs to move towards a greener future, using fewer fossil fuels. Part of that future may be powered by hydrogen but the technology to do so must be cost-effective and durable. New research highlights tin as 'promising alternative' for cheaper hydrogen fuel...