Progress in developing the novel extractants for rare earths

Abstract

<p indent=0mm>The separation of rare earths is the key joint between the rare earth resources and high-performance functional materials of rare earth. Because most rare earth products were produced by solvent extraction, the performance of extractants is crucial to the efficiency of the extraction and separation of rare earths. In this review, the progress in the development of novel extractants for rare earths in China in the past ten years is briefly reviewed with more attention on the work on dialkyl phosphinic acids (including symmetric- and asymmetric ones), amine-containing organophosphorous extractants and carboxylic acids.