Africa: A New Class of Metals Could Transform Africa's Clean Energy Economy - Scientists Explain

What the report says

Researchers writing for The Conversation Africa, and republished by AllAfrica, say a new class of metals known as high-entropy alloys could help Africa move further up the clean energy value chain. The analysis, published on 13 August 2026, argues that countries on the continent already supply large shares of key minerals used in advanced materials, including manganese, cobalt and copper, but capture far less value than they could by exporting processed products instead of raw ores.

The article says high-entropy alloys combine several elements in a single material and can be engineered to be strong, corrosion-resistant and suitable for hydrogen storage. The authors focus on hydrogen as a clean energy carrier and explain that storing it safely and efficiently remains a major technical challenge. They say metal-hydride storage using these alloys could allow hydrogen to be stored in solid form, potentially at relatively low temperatures and pressures.

A key point in the analysis is that computational materials science can speed up alloy discovery by predicting performance before laboratory testing. The authors, affiliated with the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Physical Laboratory and Sudan University of Science and Technology, say this approach could reduce costs and help identify promising combinations of African-sourced elements more quickly.

The piece says the main obstacles are not mineral availability but industrial capacity, finance, infrastructure, energy systems and technical know-how. It argues that investment in research, computing resources and cooperation between governments, universities and industry would be needed if African countries are to turn mineral resources into higher-value clean energy technologies.