Geelong-based scientist leads groundbreaking metals research

SCIENTISTS from Deakin University and Spain’s Tecnalia research and innovation hub have improved the process for recovering rare earth metals (REMs), resources, which are used in mobile phones and other advanced technologies including electric-powered cars.

Doctor Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo – who is based at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus and leads the electromaterials project – said there was an urgent need to develop a cleaner and simpler process for recovering REMs to reduce the amount of toxic and radioactive waste being extracted from current methods.

“Consumption of REMs has been gradually increasing since the 1960s due to their use in electronics, optics, and magnetics, making them ubiquitous in everyday applications such as television screens and computer systems,” Dr Pozo-Gonzalo said.

“They’re also a key component of many modern technologies, including hard disk drives, clean technologies such as wind power turbines, and batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles.”

The Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials (FIM) researcher said an increased demand for REMs, such as cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and lanthanum, was putting pressure on global supply chains.

She also said about 85 per cent of the world’s REM primary resources are in China, but the Chinese government’s policy on restricted exports is “endangering availability and price stability”.

“There’s growing concern that future access to these materials won’t be reliable, leading to them being targeted for reclamation and recycling,” Dr Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo said.

“After separating the metals from their end-of-life product, our team uses advanced electrolytes known as ionic liquids (liquid salt-based systems) to recover the rare earth metals from the resulting solution using a process of electrodeposition – when you use a low electric current to cause metals to reform and deposit on a desired surface.

“This new method for recovering REMs has great potential and minimises the generation of toxic and harmful waste. We are also aiming for a method that can easily be implemented widely across the world.”

Deakin IFM researchers Dr Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo, Professor Maria Forsyth, Associate Professor Jennifer Pringle, and Dr Matthias Hilder; and Tecnalia Research and Innovation researchers Laura Sanchez- Cupido, Amal Siriwardana and Ainhoa Unzurrunzag collaborated on the project.

Their full findings, “Water-Facilitated Electrodeposition of Neodymium in a Phosphonium- Based Ionic Liquid”, have been published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.