According to reports, due to severe supply-demand imbalance, European rare earth element yttrium price has surged by nearly 1500% this year, with yttrium oxide price rising from less than $8 per kg at the end of 2024 to approximately $126 per kg now.
Notably, in April this year, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement imposing export controls on certain medium and heavy rare earth-related items, among which yttrium-related items are included. Specifically, the yttrium-related items are: 1C908.a – Metallic yttrium, yttrium-containing alloys and related products: metallic yttrium, yttrium-containing alloys, yttrium-aluminum alloy, yttrium-magnesium alloy, yttrium-nickel alloy, yttrium-copper alloy, yttrium-iron alloy, yttrium-containing targets, yttrium targets, yttrium-aluminum alloy targets, yttrium-zirconium alloy targets; 1C908.b – Yttrium oxide and its mixtures; 1C908.c – Yttrium-containing compounds and their mixtures.
Yttrium (Yttrium, symbol Y, atomic number 39) belongs to Group IIIB (Group 3 subgroup) of the fifth period in the periodic table and is the first rare earth element discovered by humans.
Yttrium is a silvery-white metal with a melting point of 1522°C, a boiling point of approximately 3345°C, and a density of 4.469 g/cm3. It exhibits good ductility and machinability. It can form water-insoluble fluorides, hydroxides, and oxalates, as well as water-soluble bromides, chlorides, iodides, nitrates, and sulfates. The abundance of yttrium in the Earth’s crust is approximately 28–33 ppm, ranking second among the 17 rare earth elements (second only to cerium). It mainly occurs in minerals such as monazite, xenotime, bastn?site, and fergusonite. China possesses abundant yttrium resources in locations such as Bayan Obo in Baotou (Inner Mongolia), southern Jiangxi, Mianning in Sichuan, and Weishan in Shandong.
Thanks to its unique physical and chemical properties, yttrium is widely used in modern industry and high-tech fields:
In laser and optoelectronics: yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) is currently an important artificial laser crystal; neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) is a commonly used solid-state laser working medium in industrial and medical fields, widely applied in laser cutting, welding, marking, ophthalmic surgery, and laser ranging.
In fluorescence and display technology: europium-doped yttrium oxide is a classic red phosphor, once widely used in CRT televisions, projection tubes, and trichromatic fluorescent lamps; it is still used today in red compensating phosphors for LED encapsulation, X-ray intensifying screens, and anti-counterfeiting fluorescent markers.
In nuclear energy: yttrium aluminum garnet and yttrium iron garnet single crystals formed with indium, gallium, etc., are excellent neutron-absorbing materials and microwave ferrites; yttria-stabilized zirconia is also used as inner linings for nuclear fuel cladding and as a matrix for nuclear waste immobilization.
In biomedicine: ??Y-labeled microspheres are used for radioactive embolization treatment of liver cancer; yttrium oxide nanoparticles, due to their good biocompatibility, are being developed as MRI contrast agents, drug carriers, and photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy.
