(Nanowerk Spotlight) Lanthanide dopants play an important role in desirable phase transformations of aluminum oxide (alumina) in order to achieve optimized physical and chemical properties. For ...

Conventional wisdom among chemists has been that most lanthanide elements could exist in compounds only in the +3 oxidation state. Overturning that long-standing assumption, researchers have now ...

image: A team of chemists from RUDN University synthesized new organosilicon compounds containing terbium and europium ions. These complexes have an unusual cage-like crystal structure that contains ...

Lanthanides are rare-earth heavy metals with useful magnetic properties and a knack for emitting light. Researchers had long assumed that lanthanides' toxicity risk was low and therefore safe to ...

Conceptual art showing the rare earth element promethium in a vial surrounded by an organic ligand. Scientists have discovered hidden features of promethium, opening a pathway for research on other ...

The path to reducing the size of electronic devices involves the use of atoms as memory elements. To convert an atom into a bit of information, it is necessary to manipulate its magnetic state.

The lanthanide elements’ 4f electron orbitals are notoriously shy and retiring, and they were long thought to be unwilling partners in chemical bonding. Now chemists have brought out a surprising ...

Scientists have compiled the most complete library yet of lanthanide heavy metals and their potential toxicity -- by exposing baker's yeast to lanthanides. Their findings could help researchers ...