Gallium

Butcher, T.; Brown, T.J.

doi:10.1002/9781118755341.ch7

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Gallium is currently $0.2–1.0 per gram. 108 Gallium is also an order of magnitude less conductive than common metals, such as copper, which may be a limit for demanding applications.…”

Section: Outlook Challenges and Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Dickey

2014

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

575

481

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Gallium and several of its alloys are liquid metals at or near room temperature. Gallium has low toxicity, essentially no vapor pressure, and a low viscosity. Despite these desirable properties, applications calling for liquid metal often use toxic mercury because gallium forms a thin oxide layer on its surface. The oxide interferes with electrochemical measurements, alters the physicochemical properties of the surface, and changes the fluid dynamic behavior of the metal in a way that has, until recently, been considered a nuisance. Here, we show that this solid oxide “skin” enables many new applications for liquid metals including soft electrodes and sensors, functional microcomponents for microfluidic devices, self-healing circuits, shape-reconfigurable conductors, and stretchable antennas, wires, and interconnects.

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“…Gallium is currently $0.2–1.0 per gram. 108 Gallium is also an order of magnitude less conductive than common metals, such as copper, which may be a limit for demanding applications.…”

Section: Outlook Challenges and Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Dickey

2014

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

575

481

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“…This analysis did not include an estimation of the future demand from other applications such as low melting point alloys, catalysts, piezoelectric materials and potential new applications . To contribute significantly to future gallium demand, these applications would have to grow by several orders of magnitude.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Byproduct Metal Availability Constrained by Dynamics of Carrier Metal Cycle: The Gallium–Aluminum Example

Løvik

Restrepo

Müller

2016

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Future availability of byproduct metals is not limited by geological stocks, but by the rate of primary production of their carrier metals, which in turn depends on the development of their in-use stocks, the product lifetimes, and the recycling rates. This linkage, while recognized conceptually in past studies, has not been adequately taken into account in resource availability estimates. Here, we determine the global supply potential for gallium up to 2050 based on scenarios for the global aluminum cycle, and compare it with scenarios for gallium demand derived from a dynamic model of the gallium cycle. We found that the gallium supply potential is heavily influenced by the development of the in-use stocks and recycling rates of aluminum. With current applications, a shortage of gallium is unlikely by 2050. However, the gallium industry may need to introduce ambitious recycling- and material efficiency strategies to meet its demand. If in-use stocks of aluminum saturate or decline, a shift to other gallium sources such as zinc or coal fly ash may be required.

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“…Gallium (Ga) and germanium (Ge) are listed among the most critical elements for industry in the European Union (European Commission, 2020), as well as in other technologically advanced countries (Fortier et al, 2018;Hofstra et al, 2021). Gallium is mostly used to manufacture integrated circuits and optoelectrical devices such as laser diodes, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors and solar cells (Moskalyk, 2003;Butcher and Brown, 2014;USGS, 2021a). Germanium also has uses in electronics and solar applications such as fibre/infrared optics or in chemical catalysis (Moskalyk, 2004;Melcher and Buchholz, 2014;USGS, 2021b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Germanium also has uses in electronics and solar applications such as fibre/infrared optics or in chemical catalysis (Moskalyk, 2004;Melcher and Buchholz, 2014;USGS, 2021b). Gallium is mostly extracted as a by-product of bauxite processing and, to a much lesser extent, from Zn-processing residues and coal (Butcher and Brown, 2014;Frenzel et al, 2016;USGS, 2021a). In contrast, Ge is mostly associated with Zn or Pb-Zn-Cu sulfide ores and coals (Frenzel et al, 2014;USGS, 2021a,b), and many old deposits and prospects of Zn ores have recently been (re-)examined because of the potential to recover Ge (Saini-Eidukat et al, 2009;Mondillo et al, 2018a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineralogy of Ga- and Ge-bearing metallurgical slags from Tsumeb, Namibia

Ettler

Mihaljevič

Strnad

et al. 2021

MinMag

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Gallium (Ga) and germanium (Ge) are technologically important critical elements. Lead blast furnace slags from Tsumeb, Namibia, comprise over two million metric tons of material that contains high levels of Ga (135–156 ppm) and Ge (128–441 ppm) in addition to significant Zn concentrations (up to 11 wt.%) and represent a potential resource for these elements. A combination of mineralogical and chemical methods (PXRD, FEG-SEM-EPMA and LA-ICP-MS) indicated different partitioning of Ga and Ge within the individual slag phases. Gallium is predominantly bound in small euhedral crystals of Zn–Fe–Al spinels (<10 μm in size), exhibiting concentrations in the range of 480–1370 ppm (up to 0.004 atoms per formula unit, apfu). Concentrations of Ga in other phases (e.g. melilite) are systematically below 90 ppm. The principal host of Ge is the silicate glass and, to a lesser extent, silicates (melilite and olivine group phases). Concentrations of Ge in glass attained a concentration of 470 ppm (EPMA), but the LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass matrix containing submicrometre spinel crystallites indicated that average Ge levels vary in the range of 113–394 ppm. In the potential extraction of Ga and Ge, the results indicate that ultrafine milling is needed to liberate the Ga- and Ge-hosting phases prior to metallurgical processing of the slag.

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Gallium

Cited by 15 publications

References 18 publications

Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Byproduct Metal Availability Constrained by Dynamics of Carrier Metal Cycle: The Gallium–Aluminum Example

Mineralogy of Ga- and Ge-bearing metallurgical slags from Tsumeb, Namibia

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