New materials enable cleaner rare earth elements separation

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for everyday technologies such as smartphones, LED lights, wind turbines and many medical applications. At the same time, supply chains are under pressure due to the geographical concentration of production, and electronic waste is growing worldwide.

One of the challenges with mining REEs is that they occur only in small amounts and behave almost identically in chemical terms. This makes separating them individually a massive technical challenge.

Doctoral researcher  at the University of Helsinki has developed a series of new hybrid materials that can selectively separate REEs from one another. The materials combine an organic component (aminophosphonates) with an inorganic zirconium-oxide framework. The developed solid hybrid materials can selectively bind and distinguish between chemically similar REEs without relying on harsh or hazardous chemicals during the initial separation stages, offering a cleaner and safer alternative to traditional methods.

Circular economy and supply security

The new materials perform reliably under radiochemical conditions. This means they are uniquely suited for producing medically important radionuclides — an area of growing importance as global demand for medical radionuclides continues to rise.

"Traditional separation of REEs relies on intensive, large-scale solvent extraction, which generates significant chemical liquid waste," notes Otaki.

With the new materials, REEs could also be refined from pre-processed electronic waste fractions rather than relying solely on new mining.

"This strengthens supply security, supports the circular economy, and contributes to the development of cleaner energy technologies and advanced medical applications," Otaki notes.

Miho Otaki, M.Sc. will defend the doctoral dissertation entitled " in the Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, on 17 June 2026.