Imagine that your smartphone doesn’t work. And if at the same time your laptop and television pack up, the electricity goes off and the car won’t start, you are facing a hugely inconvenient, if not downright alarming, scenario. In theory, this confluence of failures shouldn’t happen. However, if one set of components within this equipment were absent, it would be inevitable.
The vital ingredients? Rare-earth elements (REEs), comprising 17 metallic members of the periodic table. REEs may be just a small part of a product. Yet with their high melting and
