Richard T Mayes

Bio

Richard Mayes leads the Fuel Cycle Chemical Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, overseeing a research and development portfolio focused advanced nuclear fuel recycling and separations approaches to advance the technology readiness level from benchtop to engineering scale.

His robust career at ORNL has focused on adjacent lanthanide separations, radioisotope production, and structure-property relationships of f-block elements. He has served in several R&D staff and leadership roles, where he led the effort to reestablish domestic Promethium-147 production, and studied the extraction of co-produced radioisotopes and fission product utility. 

He is an active member of the American Chemical Society and served as the 2024 chair of the organization’s East Tennessee Section. He also serves as an associate editor in sustainable process engineering for Frontiers in Chemical Engineering.

Awards

• 2025 ORNL Research Accomplishment Award for the reporting of Pm-147 molecular complex in Nature
• 2017 Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Class of Influential Researchers
• 3-time R&D 100 Award Winner
  • 2016: U-Grabber
  • 2012: HiCap Adsorbents
  • 2011: Mesoporous Carbon Electrode for Desalination

Education

Richard holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as well as a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in chemistry from Tennessee Technological University. 

Professional Affiliations

Member, American Chemical Society; Subdivisions: Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Inorganic Chemistry, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry 

Trademarks and Patents

Janke, C. J.; Mayes, R. T.; Das, S.; Dai, S. Amidoxime-functionalized materials and their use in extracting metal ions from liquid solutions. U.S. Patent 11,247,191 B2, February 15, 2022.

Janke, C. J.; Mayes, R. T.; Das, S.; Dai, S. Amidoxime-functionalized materials and their use in extracting metal ions from liquid solutions. U.S. Patent 11,247,191 B2, February 15, 2022.

Dai, S.; Abney, C. J.; Mayes, R. T.; Dozlhnikov, D.; Luo, H. “Molten salt compositions with enhanced heat transfer and reduced corrosion properties.” U.S. Patent 11,050,094 B1, June 29, 2021.

Janke, C. J.; Mayes, R. T.; Das, S.; Dai, S. “Amidoxime-functionalized materials and their use in extracting metal ions from liquid solutions.” U.S. Patent 10,702,852 B2, July 7, 2020.

Mayes, R. T. and Dai, S. “Carbon Composition with hierarchical porosity, and methods of preparation.” U.S. Patent 10,626,028, April 21, 2020.

Dai, S.; Sun, X.-G.; Guo, B.; Wang, X.; Mayes, R. T.; Ben, T.; Qiu, S. Nitrogen-sulfur-carbon nanocomposites and their application as cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries. U.S. Patent 10,044,039 B2, August 7, 2018.

Mayes, Richard T. & Dai, Sheng. Carbon composition with hierarchical porosity, and methods of preparation. U.S. Patent 10,023,480 B2, July 17, 2018.

Dai, S.; Sun, X.-G.; Guo, B.; Wang, X.; Mayes, R. T.; Ben, T.; Qiu, S. Nitrogen-sulfur-carbon nanocomposites and their application as cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries. U.S. Patent 9,455,439 B2, September 27, 2016.

Dai, S.; Górka, J.; Mayes, R. T. Surface-functionalized mesoporous carbon materials. U.S. Patent 9,249,241 B2, February 2, 2016.

DePaoli, D. W.; Kiggans, J. O., Jr.; Tsouris, C.; Bourcier, W.; Campbell, R.; Mayes, R. T. Increasing ion sorption and desorption rates of conductive electrodes. U.S. Patent 8,920,622 B2, December 30, 2014.

Mayes, R. T.; Dai, S. Carbon composition with hierarchical porosity, and methods of preparation. U.S. Patent 8,865,351 B2, October 21, 2014.

Dai, S.; Fulvio, P. F.; Mayes, R. T.; Wang, X.; Sun, X.-G.; Guo, B. Mesoporous Carbon Materials. U.S. Patent 8,828,533 B2, September 9, 2014.

Mayes, R. T.; Kiggans, J. O., Jr.; Dai, S.; DePaoli, D. W.; Tsouris, C.; Peter, W. H. Metal-carbon composites and methods for their production. U. S. Patent Application 2015/0306570A1, October 29, 2015.

Blue, C. A.; Dai, S.; DePaoli, D. W.; Kiggans, J. O., Jr.; Mayes, R. T.; Peter, W. H.; Tsouris, C. Titanium and titanium alloy carbon composites for capacitive water purification and other applications. U.S. Patent Application 2013/0048500A1, February 28, 2013.

Publications