Why Are Rare Earth Metals Used In Smartphones. They are rare earths a group of 17 chemical elements with tongue-tying names such as yttrium and thulium that are used in televisions cell phones. The rare-earth concentrate heads to a separations facility where acids are added to pull apart the different rare-earth minerals.
Besides the problem of depleted reserves many have raised concerns about the mines in which some elements used to make smartphones are extracted. Rare earth elements17 elements in the periodic table the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. Smartphones screens display images on a liquid crystal display LCD.
Neodymium dysprosium praseodymium terbium gadolinium and lanthanum are found inside displays and other electronic components.
Just like in most TVs and computer monitors a phone LCD uses an electrical current to adjust the color of each pixel. Dysprosium is found in various other mineral such as xenotime. Rare earth elements REEs are a small but incredibly powerful family of metals that have an integral role to play in the manufacture of a multitude of modern electronic devices. Rare earth metals are critical components in permanent magnets electric vehicles and smartphones.
