Reinventing Graphite Manufacturing: Electrochemical Transformation of Waste and Unconventional Carbon Feedstocks

We are pleased to announce an upcoming colloquium featuring Dr. Bishnu Prasad Thapaliya from Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Abstract: 

Graphite, a critical material, is indispensable to modern energy-storage technologies and is increasingly recognized as a strategically important critical material. Yet conventional synthetic graphite production relies on energy-intensive thermal processing, with graphitization typically requiring temperatures approaching 3000 °C. Developing alternative pathways that can access highly ordered carbon structures from abundant, low-value, and unconventional feedstocks at substantially lower temperatures could transform graphite manufacturing. In this talk, I will present our efforts to establish molten-salt electrochemistry as a platform for re-engineering carbon structure and producing graphitic materials under dramatically milder conditions. Two complementary approaches will be highlighted. First, electrochemical graphitization in molten salts (E-GRIMS) enables the transformation of amorphous carbon, including carbon derived from waste precursors, into highly ordered graphite at temperatures far below those required by conventional thermal graphitization. Second, we extend this concept beyond solid carbon feedstocks through electrochemical CO2 graphitization (ECOG), directly converting CO2 into graphitic carbon and thereby transforming a waste carbon stream into a value-added critical material. These studies reveal that molten salts are more than passive reaction media: when coupled with electrochemical driving forces, they provide a powerful environment for controlling carbon transformation, structural ordering, and ultimately electrochemical properties. By linking waste-carbon utilization, CO2 conversion, critical-material manufacturing, and energy storage, this work opens new opportunities for sustainable, potentially lower-energy graphite production for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Bio:

Dr. Bishnu Prasad Thapaliya is a Staff Scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where his research focuses on molten-salt electrochemistry and sustainable approaches for synthesizing, transforming, and recycling materials for energy-storage technologies. His research has pioneered electrochemically driven, low-temperature graphitization of unconventional and waste-derived carbon precursors and the direct conversion of CO2 into graphitic carbon through electrochemical carbon mining.

His contributions in these areas have earned him two R&D 100 Awards: the 2025 R&D 100 Award for E-GRIMS, an electrochemical approach to low-temperature graphitization, and the 2026 R&D 100 Award for ECOG, an electrochemical technology for converting CO2 into graphite.

Beyond carbon materials, Dr. Thapaliya’s research encompasses critical-material separation and recycling, membrane-based separations, and the design and synthesis of liquid and composite electrolytes for next-generation alkali-metal batteries.

Dr. Thapaliya received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, followed by an M.S. in physical Chemistry from the University of Akron, Ohio, and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He subsequently joined ORNL as a postdoctoral researcher before transitioning to his current role as a Staff Scientist. His broader research vision is to harness electrochemistry and unconventional reaction environments to enable lower-energy, sustainable manufacturing of critical materials for future energy technologies.

 

Contact info@anpaglobal.org for Webex link. ANPA members will receive Webex link closer to the event date.