Rare earth elements (REEs), comprising 17 elements including scandium, yttrium, and the 15 lanthanides, are indispensable to modern technologies—from wind turbines and electric vehicles to smartphones and medical devices. Despite their name, REEs are relatively abundant in the Earth's crust; however, they often occur in low concentrations and are dispersed, making their extraction both challenging and costly.
For instance, neodymium and dysprosium are critical for manufacturing strong permanent magnets used in high-efficiency motors and generators. Additionally, europium and terbium are essential for producing the vibrant colors in display screens. The unique electronic configurations of REEs grant them exceptional magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, which are harnessed in various high-tech applications.
This month, Rigaku hosted a webinar by XRF application scientist Carmen Kaiser-Brügmann, who demonstrated how Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (WDXRF) provides a fast and precise method for REE analysis. She explained how sample preparation, hardware design, and advanced calibration strategies come together to make direct, solid-sample analysis possible—even for complex mineral matrices.
Think you know your XRF? Test yourself with this short quiz:
What’s one major advantage of WDXRF over ICP-MS for REE analysis?
What particle size is recommended when preparing pressed powder samples for accurate XRF analysis?
What does the scattering ratio correction improve in trace element analysis?
In what situations might a loose powder cell be used instead of pressed powder?
We'll reveal the answers in next month's issue—but if you want a head start, the full webinar is available to watch on demand.
Upcoming Events
BCA/CCG Crystallography School 2025 | Durham, UK | Mar 29 - Apr 5, 2025 | Website
121st AWPA Annual Meeting | Santa Rosa, CA| Mar 30 - Apr 3, 2025 |Website
The Use of WDXRF in the Petroleum and Oil Industry | Webinar | Apr 2, 2025 | Website
MRS Spring 2025 | Seattle, WA | Apr 7 - 11, 2025 |Website
Small Crystals, Big Insights: How Electron Diffraction is Transforming Materials, Life Science, and Chemistry Research - #2 The Transformative Potential of Electron Diffraction | Webinar | Apr 9, 2025 |Website
BCA Spring Meeting 2025 | Leeds, UK | Apr 14 - 17, 2025 | Website
Texas Fire Chiefs Association Annual Conference | Waco, TX | Apr 14 - 17, 2025 |Website
WDXRF Webinar: The Use of WDXRF in the Petroleum and Oil Industry
Mark your calendar for the upcoming webinar: The Use of WDXRF in the Petroleum and Oil Industry!
Join us on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at 4:00 PM CEST for a free 60-minute webinar exploring the applications of WDXRF technology in petroleum analysis and quality control.
Gain insights into how WDXRF enhances accuracy in analyzing crude oil, fuels, lubricants, catalysts, and production residues. Learn best practices for utilizing Rigaku’s benchtop and high-end spectrometers, and benefit from expert guidance backed by over 35 years of experience in XRF analysis.
Rigaku Wins Pittcon Today Excellence and Innovation Award
We are proud to announce that Rigaku’s XSPA-200ER has received the Pittcon Today Excellence and Innovation Bronze Award at Pittcon Conference + Exposition 2025. This prestigious award recognizes true innovation in laboratory science and is judged by a panel of independent experts from academia and leading industry publications.
To qualify, products must be newly launched after January 2024 and demonstrate significant innovation, creativity, and impact on the field. The XSPA-200ER stood out for its advanced performance and potential to transform analytical workflows.
Al Larsen accepted the award on behalf of the team. We’re grateful for the recognition and for everyone who contributed to this achievement.
Elemental analysis of solids, liquids, powders, alloys and thin films
Compared to competing XRF systems, the Rigaku Supermini200 offers superior fundamental parameters and empirical software capabilities in a high resolution instrument with a compact footprint. As a high-power benchtop sequential wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer, for elemental analysis of oxygen (O) through uranium (U) in almost any material, the Supermini200 uniquely delivers low cost-of-ownership (COO) with high resolution and lower limits-of-detection (LLD).
Join us for the next MiniFlex Office Hour on April 11, 2025, at 1:30 PM CDT, a LinkedIn Live session where we’ll answer your real-time questions about the MiniFlex X-ray diffractometer. Hosted by Akhilesh Tripathi, X-ray Diffraction Application Manager, and Aya Takase, Head of Global Marketing Communications at Rigaku, this interactive session is your chance to connect, ask questions, and explore all things MiniFlex. Whether you're new to XRD or a longtime user, we welcome your insights. This is just the beginning of a recurring series, so stay tuned for more opportunities to join the conversation. Drop your questions in the chat, and let’s talk XRD!
February 19, 2025:A new study shows that the charge an object picks up can depend on its history. The number of times an object had previously touched another determined whether the object became negatively or positively charged when touched again. The work could be a step toward understanding the effects behind static electricity.
February 27, 2025: Scientists are developing a robotic system that can see through thick smoke, intense rain and around corners. The tool is equipped with an innovative radio-based sensing system which, combined with AI, allows it to build a 3D view of its environment. The robot senses the reflection of radio waves, which are not blocked by tiny particles such as smoke, from surfaces.
February 28, 2025: A team of researchers lab has developed a breakthrough lithium extraction method that could reshape the battery industry for electric vehicles. They demonstrated near-perfect lithium selectivityby repurposing solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) as membrane materials for aqueous lithium extraction.
March 5, 2025: Researchers have successfullyturned light into a supersolidfor the first time, paving the way for new insights into the unusual quantum states of matter. The recent experiment diverged from previous methods by utilizing a aluminum gallium arsenide semiconductor instead of ultracold atoms.
March 22, 2025: By exposing PET, the most common type of polyester plastic, to an inexpensive catalyst and leaving it exposed to ambient air,researchers broke down 94% of the material in just four hours.The plastic transformed into terephthalic acid (TPA), a highly valuable building block for polyesters.
Featured Application Notes
Accurate Quantitative Analysis of Ferrosilicon by the Fusion Method using ZSX Primus III NEXT
Ferrosilicon is one of the most basic materials used in the steel making process. The iron alloys with the content of silicon between 15% and 90% are called "ferrosilicon", and are used in the reduction of the iron, removing oxygen and adding silicon when cast iron or steel alloys are produced. As part of controlling the steel making process, analyses of slag and raw materials such as quicklime are also required. X-ray fluorescence spectrometers are the most common analysis tools to analyze ferroalloy, slag, steel and added materials owing to the rapid analysis and the ability to measure both bulk metal and powders.
This application note describes accurate ferrosilicon analysis using ZSX Primus III NEXT, which is optimized for process control of steel making and ferrosilicon production.
When drilling for crude oil and natural gas, rock cuttings are brought to the surface for examination and characterization of the rock strata. Mineralogy and elemental composition are some of the tests that go into the lithology of the rock layers, giving valuable information on the formation being drilled for well logging and positioning of the drill bit when geosteering. XRF gives elemental composition of the cuttings, an important part of the overall well logging system. To meet the industry needs, Applied Rigaku Technologies offers EDXRF analyzer NEX QC+ QuantEZ for measuring elemental composition of various geological materials.
Analysis of liquid and powder samples by benchtop wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer Supermini200 without helium gas
Natsumi Okazaki
In wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) analysis, liquid and some powder samples are usually measured under helium atmosphere while other samples are measured under vacuum atmosphere. As of 2024, the global shortage of helium gas has resulted in high prices and long delivery times, making analysis using helium gas difficult. Originally, the benchtop WDXRF analyzer Supermini200 measured samples while the sample chamber and optical chamber were either in vacuum or helium atmosphere. Rigaku has developed a new feature for the Supermini200 to measure all forms of samples, including solids, powders, and liquids, without helium gas. This paper describes the details of air/vacuum atmosphere measurement with the Supermini200 and introduces actual analysis examples.
Small Crystals, Big Insights: How Electron Diffraction is Transforming Materials, Life Science, and Chemistry Research
The Transformative Potential of Electron Diffraction
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 9:00 AM CDT
How can modern electron diffraction advance your research and uncover unprecedented structural insights across fields like organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals, materials science, and more?
In this session, you will learn about the use cases of electron diffraction, success stories, challenges, and how they were overcome. Starting from the physical foundations and history of the technique, we will develop an outlook on what the future will bring to further push the boundaries of analytical insights unlocked by electron diffraction. Join us to learn more.
Episode 2: Preclinical Development and Preformulation
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 1:00 PM CDT
Do you ever wonder how pharmaceutical companies ensure the stability and efficacy of their products before they reach the market?
In this session, we will delve into various thermal analysis techniques, including Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA, TG-DTA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), highlighting their applications in drug discovery and pharmaceutical development. We will cover how gaining insights on the thermal behaviour of the active ingredient, such as mass loss due to degradation or dehydration, can directly impact the product development and formulation processes. In addition, the DSC method can be used to characterize crystallinity and elucidate on the effects of different states of polymorphism to the overall thermal properties. Join us to learn more.
The Opioid Matrix is a podcast for anyone looking for the latest information in the illegal drug supply chain—beginning to end. Each episode will feature a discussion with industry experts about the current opioid crisis, including drug trafficking, drug manufacturing, drug identification, drug addiction, as well as the role of government, law enforcement, new health and social programs, and more.
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