News News
Contact us
  • Customer service number:64321087
  • Commercial service telephone:13918059423
  • Technical service telephone:13918059423
  • Contact person: Mr. Cui 
  • Service email:shxtb@163.com
  • Address: room 107, building 8, no. 100, guilin road, xuhui district, Shanghai

New studies identify key molecular characteristics

The date of: 2018-10-25
viewed: 0

New studies identify key molecular characteristics to separate rare earth metals cleanly and efficiently with light

Source:Green Car Congress

Mining and purifying rare-earth metals by conventional solvent extraction or ion-exchange chromatography methods are time-consuming, require substantial cost, and are unsustainable. Previous work has shown that specific rare earth elements absorb light energy that can change their chemical behavior and make them easier to separate. Now, researchers have revealed how certain molecular structures can improve the efficiency of this light-driven chemistry to separate cerium, a rare earth element.

The 17 rare earth elements are chemically similar. Methods used to purify the desired elements from natural sources produce massive quantities of waste. Purifying one ton of a rare earth element creates tons of acidic and radioactive waste. The processes are also energy intensive. Knowing how to efficiently use light to separate selected rare earths could reduce waste and lower costs.

Photochemical-based separation has been examined as a promising preprocessing step to separate redox-active rare earths, especially europium, from mined ore mixtures. New methods for recycling of europium and other rare earths using photochemistry is also an important direction for diversifying the supply chain.

Among the rare earths, several members, such as cerium, samarium, europium, and ytterbium, absorb light through relevant electronic 4f-5d transitions. Current photoredox separations methods are not practical because of their need for intense light sources. Controlling and exploiting the 4f-5d transitions for these elements is important for achieving applications in photoredox rare earth separations.

Recently, a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Buffalo developed a combined experimental and computational study to understand and control the photophysics of luminescent cerium complexes. The team designed and synthesized a series of cerium(III) complexes that allowed for identification of key structural features that enabled predictive and tunable quantum yields, and therefore brightness. Moreover, the team performed comprehensive computational analyses of guanidinate-amide and guanidinate-aryloxide luminescent cerium(III) complexes.

The computational data afforded rationalization of the differences in Stokes shifts (luminescent colors) of these compounds. These quantitative structure-luminescence models are expected to contribute to the photoredox separations of rare-earth-containing products whose 4f-5d electronic transitions can be tuned and exploited in the visible and ultraviolet range for efficient, green, and potentially low cost photochemical-based separations.


Hot News / Related to recommend
  • 2025 - 09 - 12
    Click on the number of times: 0
    Synergistic Coupling of Antenna Effect and Schottky Junction in Tb-Doped Covalent Organic Framework for Enhanced Electrochemiluminescence Sening of Isobutyryl Fentanyl来源:ACS PublicationsRational desig...
  • 2025 - 09 - 10
    Click on the number of times: 0
    来源:ACS PublicationsThe development of a catalyst exhibiting high resistance to SO2 and H2O, while demonstrating superior CO oxidation performance, is of significant importance for specific industrial ...
  • 2025 - 09 - 09
    Click on the number of times: 0
    Structural Investigation of Six Quinary Sulfides Synthesized via the Flux-Assisted Boron-Chalcogen Mixture (BCM) Method Eu2+ Containing Members of the RE3MTQ7 (M and T = Transition or Main Group Metal...
  • 2025 - 09 - 08
    Click on the number of times: 0
    来源:ACS PublicationsRare-earth ion (Pr3+, Nd3+, and Tm3+)-doped yttrium vanadate (YVO4) crystals have aroused great research interest owing to their excellent laser performances. However, the microstru...
  • Copyright ©Copyright 2018 2020 Shanghai rare earth association All Rights Reserved Shanghai ICP NO.2020034223
    the host:Shanghai Association of Rare Earth the guide:Shanghai Development and Application Office of Rare Earth the organizer:Shanghai rare earth industry promotion center
    犀牛云提供云计算服务