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Recovery of europium from E-waste using redox active tetrathiotungstate ligands

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  • Marie A. Perrin

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Paul Dutheil

    (ETH Zürich
    Paul Scherrer Institute
    Paul Scherrer Institute)

  • Michael Wörle

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Victor Mougel

    (ETH Zürich)

Abstract

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are critical to our modern economy, yet their mining from natural ores bears a profound environmental impact. Traditional separation techniques are chemical and energy-intensive because their chemical similarities make REEs very challenging to purify, requiring multiple extraction steps to achieve high purity products. This emphasizes the need for sustainable and straightforward separation methods. Here we introduce a strategy for the direct separation of europium (Eu) from complex mixtures under ambient conditions, leveraging on the redox non innocence of purely inorganic tungsten tetrathiolate (WS42−) ligands. The recovery of Eu is achieved upon reduction of Eu(III) to a Eu(II) coordination polymer, driven by an induced internal electron transfer from the tetrathiotungstate ligand. Applying this strategy to unconventional feedstock such as spent energy-saving lamps allows selective europium recovery with separation factors over 1000 and recovery efficiency as high as 99% without pre-treatment of the waste.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie A. Perrin & Paul Dutheil & Michael Wörle & Victor Mougel, 2024. "Recovery of europium from E-waste using redox active tetrathiotungstate ligands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-48733-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48733-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alison G. Fritz & Thomas J. Tarka & Meagan S. Mauter, 2023. "Assessing the economic viability of unconventional rare earth element feedstocks," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1103-1112, September.
    2. Yong Geng & Joseph Sarkis & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2023. "How to build a circular economy for rare-earth elements," Nature, Nature, vol. 619(7969), pages 248-251, July.
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