Scandium oxide, with the chemical formula Sc2O3, is a white solid that is soluble in water and hot acid. Due to the difficulty of directly extracting scandium products from scandium containing minerals, scandium oxide is currently mainly recovered and extracted from by-products of scandium containing minerals such as waste residue, wastewater, smoke, and red mud.
Strategic products
Scandium is an important strategic product. Previously, the U.S. Department of the Interior published a list of 35 strategic minerals (critical minerals) that are considered vital to the U.S. economy and national security (Final List of Critical Minerals 2018). Almost all economic minerals are included, such as aluminum used in industry, platinum group metals used in catalyst manufacturing, rare earth elements used in electronic products, tin and titanium used in alloy manufacturing, etc.
Application of Scandium Oxide
Single scandium is generally used in alloys, and scandium oxide also plays an important role in ceramic materials. For example, tetragonal zirconia ceramic materials that can be used as electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells have a very special property. The conductivity of this electrolyte increases with the increase of temperature and oxygen concentration in the environment. However, the crystal structure of this ceramic material itself cannot exist stably and has no industrial value; it must be doped with some substances that can fix this structure in order to maintain the original properties. Adding 6-10% of scandium oxide is like a concrete structure, allowing scandium oxide to be stabilized on a square lattice.
Scandium oxide can also be used as a densifier and stabilizer for high-strength, high-temperature-resistant engineering ceramic material silicon nitride. It can generate refractory phase Sc2Si2O7 at the edge of fine particles, thereby reducing the high-temperature deformation of engineering ceramics. Compared with adding other oxides, it can better improve the high-temperature mechanical properties of silicon nitride. Adding a small amount of Sc2O3 to UO2 in high-temperature reactor nuclear fuel can avoid lattice transformation, volume increase and cracks caused by the transformation of UO2 to U3O8.
Scandium oxide can be used as an evaporation material for semiconductor coatings. Scandium oxide can also be used to make variable-wavelength solid-state lasers, high-definition television electron guns, metal halide lamps, etc.
Industry Analysis
In recent years, scandium oxide has attracted more and more attention in the field of domestic solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and scandium sodium halogen lamps. SOFC has the advantages of high power generation efficiency, high cogeneration efficiency, water resource conservation, green environmental protection, easy modular assembly, and a wide range of fuel selection. It has great application value in the fields of distributed power generation, automotive power batteries, energy storage batteries, etc.
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Post time: Oct-23-2024