Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels
Abstract
The rare earths (REs) are a family of 17 elements that exhibit pronounced chemical similarities as a group, while individually expressing distinctive and varied electronic properties. These atomistic electronic properties are extraordinarily useful and motivate the application of REs in many technologies and devices. From their discovery to the present day, a major challenge faced by chemists has been the separation of RE elements, which has evolved from tedious crystallization to highly engineered solvent extraction schemes. The increasing incorporation and dependence of REs in technology have raised concerns about their sustainability and motivated recent studies for improved separations to achieve a circular RE economy.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Actinide Science & Technology (CAST); Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States); Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1566721
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0016568; SC0017259
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 363; Journal Issue: 6426; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- nuclear, defects, mechanical behavior, corrosion, charge transport, superconductivity, magnetism and spin physics, separations, geophysics/geochemistry, materials and chemistry by design, synthesis (novel materials), synthesis (self-assembly), synthesis (predictive), synthesis (scalable processing)
Citation Formats
Cheisson, Thibault, and Schelter, Eric J. Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1126/science.aau7628.
Cheisson, Thibault, & Schelter, Eric J. Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels. United States. doi:10.1126/science.aau7628.
Cheisson, Thibault, and Schelter, Eric J. Thu .
"Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels". United States. doi:10.1126/science.aau7628.
@article{osti_1566721,
title = {Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels},
author = {Cheisson, Thibault and Schelter, Eric J.},
abstractNote = {The rare earths (REs) are a family of 17 elements that exhibit pronounced chemical similarities as a group, while individually expressing distinctive and varied electronic properties. These atomistic electronic properties are extraordinarily useful and motivate the application of REs in many technologies and devices. From their discovery to the present day, a major challenge faced by chemists has been the separation of RE elements, which has evolved from tedious crystallization to highly engineered solvent extraction schemes. The increasing incorporation and dependence of REs in technology have raised concerns about their sustainability and motivated recent studies for improved separations to achieve a circular RE economy.},
doi = {10.1126/science.aau7628},
journal = {Science},
issn = {0036-8075},
number = 6426,
volume = 363,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {1}
}
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