The future of technology relies heavily on rare earth elements (REEs), and the challenge of extracting them might just have become a whole lot easier.
You'd be forgiven for not knowing that your phone is filled with the almost mythical-sounding rare earth elements, but they can be thanked for making your phone screen bright and colorful, according to Interesting Engineering.
In addition, they are "essential for making strong magnets, sharp displays, and efficient batteries … in smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and many other modern technologies," according to the article.
Additionally, the demand for these elements is set to rise by up to 2,600% in the next 10 years, as they will be vital to many future technologies, like quantum computing, advanced semiconductors, and green hydrogen production.
However, the extraction of REEs has been expensive and energy-intensive, which has a negative impact on the environment. University of Texas professor Manish Kumar has been working to find a more sustainable way to produce them.
"Rare earth elements are the backbone of advanced technologies, but their extraction and purification are energy-intensive and extremely difficult to implement at the scales required," he said.
Taking inspiration from the human body, researchers have created a membrane channel that can transport ions from REEs while blocking ions from other materials from entering the channel. This is major news, and the channels were found to be "able to choose one REE over another with up to 40 times better selectivity."
The standard form of extraction relies on harsh solvents, which harm the planet, but this new technique has proved to be more effective than the solvent-based methods.
This development could be a significant step toward creating a cleaner planet for all of us. Curbing the pollution associated with mining REEs would prevent many potent solvents from being used while also saving a massive amount of resources and energy.
As solvents have dangerous impacts on human health, a system that uses fewer of these harmful chemicals can only be better for our long-term well-being.
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With the rapid increase of technology use across every aspect of our lives, these REEs aren't going away anytime soon, so this research helps envision a future full of tech that doesn't cause harm to the planet and the people on it.
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