• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2018

For the recovering rare earths in the spent nickel-metal hydride batteries, 10 M NaOH is added to the solution leached with sulfuric acid. The rare earth powders were precipitated at rate of 98 % at the condition of pH 2.0 or less. The recovered rare earth complex precipitate increased the leaching rate to nitric acid by heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours. Subsequently secondary precipitation was performed by adding oxalic acid to the solution in which the rare earth complex precipitate was dissolved. The re-precipitated rare earth powders were converted into oxide form through heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours with purity of 99.5 %.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.213-219
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• 2018

We report a method for preparing rare earth oxides ($Re_xO_y$) from the recycling process for spent Ni-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. This process first involves a leaching of spent Ni-MH powders with sulfuric acid at $90^{\circ}C$, resulting in rare earth precipitates (i.e., $NaRE(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$, RE = La, Ce, Nd), which are converted into rare earth oxides via two different approaches: i) simple heat treatment in air, and ii) metathesis reaction with NaOH at $70^{\circ}C$. Not only the morphological features but also the crystallographic structures of all products are systematically investigated using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD); their thermal behaviors are also analyzed. In particular, XRD results show that some of the rare earth precipitates are converted into oxide form (such as $La_2O_3$, $Ce_2O_3$, and $Nd_2O_3$) with heat treatment at $1200^{\circ}C$; however, secondary peaks are also observed. On the other hand, rare earth oxides, RExOy can be successfully obtained after metathesis of rare earth precipitates, followed by heat treatment at $1000^{\circ}C$ in air, along with a change of crystallographic structures, i.e., $NaRE(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O{\rightarrow}RE(OH)_3{\rightarrow}RE_xO_y$.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.14 no.6 s.68
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• pp.3-9
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• 2005

In this study, the separation and recovery of cerium hydroxide was investigated from the wasted cerium polishing powders. Waste cerium polishing powder contains $64.5\;wt\%$ of rare earth oxide and the content of cerium oxide is $36.5\;wt\%$. Since cerium oxide, $56.3\%$ of rare earths, is the most stable state in rare earth, the dissolution of cerium oxide in acid solution is not easy. Therefore the process of rare earth oxide by sulfation and water leaching was examined in order to increase the recovery of rare earth. Rare earth elements were recovered in the form of $\Re{\cdot}Na(SO_{4})_{2}$ by the addition of sodium sulfate to leached solution. The slurry of rare earth hydroxide was prepared by the addition of $\Re{\cdot}Na(SO_{4})_{2}$ to sodium hydroxide solution. After the oxidation of cerous hydroxide($CE(OH)_{3}$) to ceric hydroxide($CE(OH)_{3}$) by aeration, ceric hydroxide was separated from other rare earth hydroxides by controlling the acidity of solution.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 2010

Thermal barrier systems have been widely investigated over the past decades, in order to enhance reliability and efficiency of gas turbines at higher temperatures. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is one of the most leading materials as the thermal barriers due to its low thermal conductivity, thermodynamic stability, and thermal compatibility with metal substrates. In this work, rare-earth oxides with pyrochlore phases for thermal barrier systems were investigated. Pyrochlore phases were successfully formed via solid-state reactions started from rare-earth oxide powders. For the heat-treated samples, thermo-physical properties were examined. These rare-oxide oxides showed thermal expansion of $9{\sim}12{\times}10^{-6}/K$ and thermal conductivity of 1.2~2.4 W/mK, which is comparable with the thermal properties of YSZ.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.444-449
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• 2011

Nano-sized $Y_2O_3$ powders were prepared via a sol-gel method starting with $Y(NO_3)_3{\cdot}6H_2O$ (Yttrium(III) nitrate hexahydrate) and water with ethanol as a cosolvent. $Y_2O_3$ is an important rare earth oxide and has been considered for use in nuclear applications, such as ceramic materials, due to its excellent optical and refractory characteristics. It has been used as a chemically stable substrate, a crucible material for melting reactive metals, and a nozzle material for jet casting molten rare earth-iron magnetic alloys. Oxalic acid ($C_2H_2O_4$) has been adopted as a chelating agent in order to control the rate of hydrolysis and polycondensation, and ammonia was added in order to adjust the base condition. The synthesized $Y_2O_3$ powder was characterized using TG/DTA, XRD, FE-SEM, BET and Impedance Analyzer analyses. The powder changed its properties in accordance with the pH conditions of the catalyst. As the pH increases according to the FE-SEM, the grain grew and it showed that the pore size decreased while confirming the effect of the grain size. The nano-material $Y_2O_3$ powders demonstrated that the surface area was improved with the addition of oxalic acid with ammonium hydroxide.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.118-122
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• 2018

Ceria ($CeO_2$) is a rare earth oxide, which has been widely investigated to improve the property. It is important to increase the surface area of $CeO_2$, because high surface area of $CeO_2$ can improve the catalytic ability. $CeO_2$ nanoparticles were synthesized by a solvothermal process. A discussion on the influence of solvent ratio and precursors on $CeO_2$ nanoparticles was performed. The size and degree of the agglomeration of the synthesized $CeO_2$ could be tuned by controlling those parameters. The average size and distribution of prepared $CeO_2$ powders was in the range of 3 to 13 nm and narrow, respectively. The XRD pattern showed that the synthesized $CeO_2$ powders were crystalline with cubic phase of $CeO_2$. The average particle size was calculated by Scherrer equation and FE-TEM images. The morphology of the synthesized $CeO_2$ particle was objected using FE-TEM and FE-SEM. Specific surface area of the synthesized $CeO_2$ was determined using BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) equation.