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The term rare-earth element or rare-earth metal is often used to include the stable group 3 elements Sc, Y, and Lu in addition to the 4f elements. [8] All lanthanide elements form trivalent cations, Ln 3+, whose chemistry is largely determined by the ionic radius, which decreases steadily from lanthanum (La) to lutetium (Lu).
Lanthanide metals react exothermically with hydrogen to form LnH 2, dihydrides. [1] With the exception of Eu and Yb, which resemble the Ba and Ca hydrides (non-conducting, transparent salt-like compounds),they form black pyrophoric, conducting compounds [6] where the metal sub-lattice is face centred cubic and the H atoms occupy tetrahedral sites. [1]
The lanthanide ions in these complexes can readily react with oxygen and water, leading to oxidation or hydrolysis, which damages the material’s structure and reduces its efficiency. This makes handling and storage difficult, requiring protective environments like sealed containers or inert gas atmospheres.
Lanthanum is the first element and prototype of the lanthanide series. In the periodic table, it appears to the right of the alkaline earth metal barium and to the left of the lanthanide cerium. Lanthanum is generally considered the first of the f-block elements by authors writing on the subject.
The lanthanide contraction is the greater-than-expected decrease in atomic radii and ionic radii of the elements in the lanthanide series, from left to right. It is caused by the poor shielding effect of nuclear charge by the 4f electrons along with the expected periodic trend of increasing electronegativity and nuclear charge on moving from left to right.
Trivalent neodymium ion Nd 3+ was the first lanthanide from rare-earth elements used for the generation of laser radiation. The Nd:CaWO 4 laser was developed in 1961. [ 66 ] Historically, it was the third laser which was put into operation (the first was ruby, the second the U 3+ :CaF laser).
Lanthanides are metal ions which have their 4f energy level filled and generally refer to elements cerium to lutetium in the periodic table. [2] The fluorescence of lanthanide salts is weak because the energy absorption of the metallic ion is low; hence chelated complexes of lanthanides are most commonly used. [3]
A metal ion in aqueous solution or aqua ion is a cation, dissolved in water, of chemical formula [M(H 2 O) n] z+.The solvation number, n, determined by a variety of experimental methods is 4 for Li + and Be 2+ and 6 for most elements in periods 3 and 4 of the periodic table.