Rare Earth Metals - The Secret Ingredients in Your Smartphone

Rare earths have become an essential component of modern technology, from defense and electric vehicle applications to military applications and even home security systems. Their heavy metals such as dysprosium and terbium play an essential part in defense, technology, and even defence applications.

Extracting these precious metals requires complex and environmentally hazardous mining and processing operations. That is why scientists are exploring alternatives such as recycling spent electronics or improving separation techniques as ways to extract these rare treasures from the ground.

1. Neodymium

Rare earth metals such as neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium may not be household names, but they play a critical role in smartphones and other high-tech devices that rely on them. "Rare earths may not be more essential than silicon or aluminum for smartphones; rather you simply can't make one without rare earths present," according to Penn State professor Joseph Cotruvo who studies these elements.

Rare earth elements--yttrium, cerium and lanthanum--have an atom subshell known as an f-electrons subshell according to inorganic chemist Ana de Bettencourt-Dias. F-electrons give rare earths their magnetic and luminescent properties while strengthening metals such as neodymium found in speakers and car motors.

Virtually every smartphone utilizes one or more metals as magnets, which play an integral part in wireless connectivity and powering electronic components such as microphones, speakers and GPS receivers. Neodymium-iron-boron magnets are often lighter than aluminum but more durable than ceramic alternatives - and often used to form the cores in lithium-ion batteries that power devices such as smartphones and electric cars.

Mining of metals is an enormously lucrative industry. Due to their scarcity and non-substitutable properties, metals play an essential role in renewable energy technology and other green innovations.

Example: Research conducted during the 1970s and 1980s led to nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries using combinations of lanthanum and neodymium as components, producing powerful yet compact batteries which still are widely used today in hybrid cars.

Neodymium's 2010 shortage demonstrated the risks involved with depending on an abundant yet critical resource, like its price skyrocketing to such heights as prompting bold solutions such as open pit mining of Amazon rainforest or mining planet seafloor and Moon to extract rare earths for use as energy. Luckily, its price has since stabilized, narrowly escaping being included on China's list of new tariffs this summer.

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2. Yttrium

Yttrium (symbol Y) is an electrochemical element with metallic properties similar to platinum and gold, sharing low melting points and relatively stable air environments, though its interaction with nitrogen leads to toxic by-products like yttrium nitrate or chloride, both toxic by-products that react with nitrogen-containing air environments and form toxic products such as monazite and bastnasite, respectively. It is found in rare-earth minerals such as monazite and bastnasite; it is also used as an ingredient of synthetic materials such as yttrium iron garnet (YIG), commonly used magneto-optical applications as substrates for high performance superconductors as catalysts in turning automobile fumes into usable energy sources; its use as catalyst for energy conversion processes is becoming more widespread over time.

Carl Axel Arrhenius, an army lieutenant and part-time chemist in Sweden, discovered an odd black rock near Ytterby Quarry and sent it for analysis to Finnish scientist Johan Gadolin for examination. Gadolin mistook it for new tungsten mineral, but instead identified it as yttrium--after its source village Ytterby in Sweden where its first discovery had taken place; today this same quarry hosts an enormous mine producing this element as well as other rare elements such as erbium and terbium elements.

These elements have become indispensable to modern technologies, from improving camera lens distortion and audio clarity in tiny speakers, to making vivid colors pop on our energy-efficient smartphones screens. Each smartphone contains about 30 elements including copper and gold for wiring as well as lithium and cobalt batteries; rare earth metals also contribute significantly towards many of its key features.

Lanthanum can be found in the small neodymium magnets used to power our touch screens, while yttrium and erbium contribute vibrant colors that bring life to our displays. Oregon State University professor Mas Subramanian who studies rare earth compounds noted how yttrium holds together structures within screens making them bendable enough for pockets - leading him to suggest microfactories as possible solutions - small local facilities capable of safely producing rare-earth materials to be used in electronics or consumer products.

3. Lanthanum

Your smartphone contains only a tiny fraction of the 90 chemical elements found on our planet; yet they hold tremendous promise for future advancements in energy, technology and renewables.

These metals--such as neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium and gadolinium--are considered "rare earth metals," because it's difficult to mine them on their own. Instead, these tiny amounts are scattered throughout Earth's crust in small amounts and only mineable as byproducts from other mining operations. Rare earth metals have multiple uses in modern technology, including magnets found within mobile phones.

An important role they play is in the tiny camera found on smartphones, delivering sharp colors through energy-efficient displays and strengthening magnetic fields in vibration units. They're also utilized in hybrid car batteries for reduced size and weight while still offering great driving range.

Carl Gustav Mosander of Sweden first identified Lanthanum in 1839, after finding it as an impurity in cerium nitrate mineral. Lanthanum is one of 15 elements in Row 6 of the periodic table known as rare earth elements or lanthanide group and its name comes from Greek words for "hide away."

Phosphorous is a soft, silvery-white metal with an atomic number of 63 that exhibits low melting and boiling points, and an impressive density value of 6.146 grams per cubic centimeter - lower than all rare earth metals! Additionally, Phosphorus ranks lowest electronegatively as it only has an electronegative value of 0.7.

Lanthanum is one of several rare-earth elements found in minerals like monazite and bastnasite. It ranks 28th most abundant element in Earth's crust - three times more plentiful than lead!

Research of rare-earth metals during the 1990s and 2000s led to advances in consumer electronics such as high-definition televisions, digital cameras and fiber-optic communications systems. One such advancement led to nickel-metal hydride batteries using neodymium and lanthanum; these rechargeable cells can store an immense amount of energy while being recharged repeatedly - they are commonly found in hybrid cars as well as some electric motorcycles.

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4. Erbium

Erbium is a silvery-white metal with a faint pink hue, found in small amounts on Earth's crust. Similar to other rare earth metals, erbium's soft, malleable properties make it perfect for crafting electronic components and jewelry. Atoms of Erbium have an atomic radius of 195 pm and metallic radius of 230 pm which place it into Group 3 of the F Block on the Periodic Table and makes its chemical properties very similar to those found elsewhere within that group such as Yttrium and Lanthanum f-block elements which gives rise to similar chemical properties between elements belonging to this group such as Erbium itself and their close relatives f-block elements such as Yttrium and Lanthanum.

Carl-Gustav Mosander, a Swedish surgeon and chemist, "discovered" elemental erbium in 1843 while extracting rare-earth component yttria from gadolinite mineral. He named its three fractions as follows: yttria, erbia and terbia (later renamed to terbium).

Due to its similar properties to other rare-earth elements, isolating elemental erbium is quite difficult due to its ore usually being mixed with others of this group. Klemm and Bommer managed to produce relatively pure erbium by reacting anhydrous erbium chloride with potassium vapor in 1934 - commercial production today utilizes liquid-liquid extraction or ion exchange techniques.

Erbium is widely used to make optical fibers. Due to its light-emitting properties, erbium provides ideal conditions for transmitting high definition television (HDTV) signals through optical fibers - enabling these HDTV signals to travel twice as far as standard TV signals, providing a clearer image than ever.

Optic fibers can also be utilized in long distance communication systems and military applications, and due to its light-emitting capabilities are widely used for lasers and other electronic devices.

Erbium was included by Dimitri Mendeleev in his Periodic Table, although modern iterations of it have expanded upon his basic concept that all elements with similar properties should be grouped together. You can learn more about Erbium and other elements by exploring our interactive Periodic Table of the Elements where clicking symbols gives access to more details including a full list of properties as well as an atomic number which helps when writing chemical formulas. Also take our Periodic Table of Elements Quiz!