Yttrium phosphate

Jons Jakob Berzelius (1779—1848) found in 1815 what he considered a new earth, which he thought was similar to the oxide of another metalhc element. He named his new element after the Scandinavian god of thunder, Thor. He was mistaken, as his new element was later proven to be Yttrium phosphate. 

Compounds Yttrium chloride yttrium nitrate yttrium oxide yttrium phosphate... 

While analyzing one of the rare minerals from the Falun distinct, Berzelius found in 1815 a substance that he believed to be the oxide of a new metal which he named thorium in honor of the ancient Scandinavian god, Thor. Ten years later he himself found that this substance was not a new earth, but simply yttrium phosphate. He evidently liked the name thorium, however, for when in 1829 he really did discover a new element, he christened it with the same name (45). 

Liu, X. and Byrne, R.H. (1997) Rare earth and yttrium phosphate solubilities in aqueous solution. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 61, 1625-1633. 

Ten years later, Berzelius announced that he had made an error. The substance he had found was not a new element, but the compound yttrium phosphate (YPO4). 

First, Newman s method was applied to yttrium phosphate, arsenate, and vanadate doped with Eu3+ (Table 9). The best results were obtained with t4 = t6 = 8. 

Phosphates of rare earth metals were prepared by this method using rare earth carbonates as precursors, boron phosphate starting from orthoboric acid, and yttrium phosphate from yttrium oxyde. 

In 1815 Berzehus examined a mineral from Falun, in which he thought he had found a new element. He intended to use the element-naming philosophy utilized by Klaproth for uranium and titanium, and of his own former student Ekeberg for tantalum (Chapter 23). But why not use a god from Norse mythology. The name of the Norse god Thor had been used in the naming of numerous places and had also given its name to a day of the week, Thor s day. Why not also an element name However, Berzehus had to change his mind when he found that the new element was not new. The mineral was an yttrium phosphate. But in 1829 it was time for an element discovery, beyond dispute. 

The rare earth phosphates are important in the geochemistry of the rare earths, since two of the main rare earth minerals are binary orthophosphates. The most abundant of these, monazite, has the approximate composition (Ce, La)P04, while xenotime is primarily an yttrium phosphate. Several other rare earth minerals containing phosphate have been found in the earth (Gmelin, 1984). In addition, the important phosphorus sources apatite and phosphorite contain up to 1% of rare earths. 

Isostructural RXO (X = P, V, As) compounds easily form solid solutions with each other. This phenomenom has been studied for yttrium phosphate, and vanadate in particular, with the aim of improving the luminescence properties of YVO by adding some phosphate (Aia, 1%7 Ropp and Carroll, 1976). 

Rare Earths are produced primarily from three ores, monazite, xenotime, and bastnasite. Monazite is a phosphate mineral of essentially the cerium subgroup metals and thorium -(light rare Earths, Th) P04. The composition of monazite is reasonably constant throughout the world, with almost 50% of its rare Earth content as cerium and most of the remaining 50% as the other members of the cerium subgroup. Xenotime, like monazite, is a rare Earth orthophosphate but contains up to 63% yttrium oxide and also a markedly higher propor-... 

Double sulphate precipitation is one of the most common methods used in industry for the separation of cerium group from yttrium group rare earths. Various other precipitants such as chromates, double chromates, ferrocyanides, phosphates etc. have been tried. 

Scadden and Ballou [62] have employed add phosphates for the first time, and reported the preferential extraction of the yttrium group rare earths in di-w-butyl phosphoric acid (w-C4H90)2P0(0H) over the lower Z rare earths. 

The use of organophosphorus acids, such as di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA di(2-ethylhexyl) monohydrogen phosphate 2 R = C4H9CH(Et)CH2), is now well established in the recovery of base metals. This reagent has found commercial application in the separation of cobalt from nickel,67 68 the separation of zinc from impurities such as copper and cadmium,69 the recovery of uranium,68 beryllium70 and vanadium,71 and in separations involving yttrium and the rare-earth metals.72 73... 

Liu, X., Byrne, R.H. and Schijfl J. (1997) Comparative coprecipitation of phosphate and arsenate with yttrium and the rare earths the influence of solution complexation. J. Sol. Chem., 26, 1187-1198. 

Xenotime (ypo4) A phosphate of yttrium—concentrates contain 25% Y2O3 which may be upgraded to 60% Y203 and 40% REO... 

Neodymium laser A CW or pulsed laser emitting radiation from excited Nd principally occurring around 1.06 pm (the precise position depends on the matrix). The Nd is present as a dopant in suitable crystals (e.g., yttrium-aluminum garnet, YAG) or in suitable glasses (phosphate, sihcate, etc.). 

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