Purification of commercial yttrium metal: Removal of fluorine

Oxyhydride Nature of Rare-Earth-Based Photochromic Thin Films

“…Besides oxygen, fluorine is a common impurity in rare-earth metals - especially in Y. 22 In the past, we observed high concentrations of O (up to 7 atom %) and F (up to 13 atom %) in many commercial Y metal sputter targets of nominal 99.9% purity. Such high F concentrations complicate the chemical analysis and obscure subsequent interpretation of charge balance and electronic properties.…”

“…Together with the previously observed characteristic transmittance window (Figure ) and lattice constants, this increases the confidence that our RE hydride samples are nearly ideal β-MH x reference materials. Besides oxygen, fluorine is a common impurity in rare-earth metals - especially in Y . In the past, we observed high concentrations of O (up to 7 atom %) and F (up to 13 atom %) in many commercial Y metal sputter targets of nominal 99.9% purity.…”