Lately you may have heard of the rare earth elements. They are a group of metals with strange names like yttrium and neodymium. But, they play a critical role in many familiar modern technologies, like electric motors, and electronic circuitry. Demand for these materials is soaring. It will continue to grow in the future, because magnets containing the rare earths are needed for the generators and motors of wind turbines and electric cars.
These new technologies are critical to reducing our reliance on burning fossil fuels, and solving the crisis of global climate change. Unfortunately, the rare earths are scattered through Earth’s crust at low concentrations, and are difficult, expensive, and environmentally destructive to mine. Critical shortages are expected in the future.
In 2023 an international team of researchers published findings that point to an unexpected solution to this rare earth crisis. The researchers were studying a mineral called tetrataenite, which is found only in meteorites, and doesn’t occur naturally on Earth. Tetrataenite has exceptional magnetic properties like the rare earths, and could substitute for them in the magnets used in generators and motors.
However, in space, the special ordered crystal structure that gives tetrataenite these properties develops through very slow processes that take millions of years. What the researchers discovered was that a fast way may exist to artificially synthesize tetrataenite in bulk quantities here on Earth. The raw materials are common substances such as iron, nickel, and phosphorous. Phosphorous played a key role in speeding up the formation of the crystals. Many research groups around the world are investigating whether artificial tetrataenite made by this new process can solve the rare earth crisis.
