ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENTS SECURING MATERIALS FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

A REPORT BY THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY & THE MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY

Energy Critical Elements: Powering Our High-Tech World

Energy Critical Elements (ECEs) are found in a myriad of high-tech, environmental and military equipment.
From smart phones to solar panels to jet engine parts, ECEs play crucial roles in products affecting our daily lives.

52 TELLURIUM—brittle, silvery-white metallic element

used in solar panels
Te
Tellurium
127.60

32 GERMANIUM— hard, grayish-white element with

metallic luster; used in solar panels
Ge
Germanium
72.61

78 PLATINUM—silvery-white, lustrous, ductile and

Pt malleable; used in pollution control devices for cars,
and in fuel cells
Platinum
195.078

60 NEODYMIUM—bright, silvery rare-earth metal

Nd element; used in wind turbines and hybrid cars
Neodymium
144.24

3 LITHIUM—a soft, silver-white metallic element;

Li used in wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries in
hybrid cars
Lithium
6.941

75 RHENIUM—silvery-white metal with one of the

highest melting points of all elements; used to
Re make advanced turbines and jet engine parts
Rhenium
186.207

65 TERBIUM—a soft, silvery-white rare earth metal;

used along with its fellow rare earth europium
Tb in compact fluorescent light bulbs to provide an
Terbium acceptable color balance
158.92534

Energy-critical element images obtained from: http://images-of-elements.com

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