The Pincus Lab

Design of Selective Materials for Recovery of Critical Minerals (CMs) from Waste Streams

Due to an increasingly urgent need to adopt green energy technologies to combat climate change, global demand for critical minerals is expected to increase from 79 billion tons in 2023 to 167 billion tons by 2060. To meet rising demand and predicted shortages of raw materials, there is a need to design new technologies and processes to extract CMs such as As and P from waters and waste streams providing a sustainable alternative to traditionally mined sources. 

This research project focuses on development of novel adsorptive materials using  sustainable biomaterials such as chitosan that are inherently more efficient, cost effective, and sustainable than traditional adsorbents. We functionalize chitosan, a natural waste product of the shellfish industry, repurposed to remove inorganic compounds of interest from a sustainability and economic interest from waste streams selectively. By making the adsorbents selective, removal effectiveness of the target ion is increased and the recyclability of the removed metals as fresh feedstock is improved. 

Funding: 1. American Chemical Society Sustainable Futures Initiative Early Career Postdoctoral-Faculty Bridge Grant, 2025-2027

Influence of Environmental Conditions on Degradation Pathways of Plastics

Plastics are among the most widespread and persistent pollutants globally, necessitating a detailed process-level understanding of their behavior in the environment. Of these plastics, microplastics (MPs) (100 nm - 5 mm) are of particular concern due to their small size increasing their potential to be ingested by organisms, and their high surface area to volume ratio greatly increasing their sorption capacities for contaminants, resulting in biomagnification of  pollutants.

As plastics enter into the environment, they are exposed to a wide variety of environmental systems conditions (e.g. exposure to sunlight, terrestrial vs aqueous conditions, growth of biofilms). As plastics chemically degrade, their surface chemistry changes significantly, influencing their ability to adsorb and accumulate inorganic contaminants such as toxic metals. This project seeks to understand the changes in plastic surface chemistry that occur upon degradation and how environmental systems conditions influence these degradation pathways with the overall goal of understanding the capacity of microplastics to serve as vectors for inorganic contaminants as they weather. 

Funding: 1. National Science Foundation, Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2021-2023