The Rare Earth Elements: These high tech enablers
This European Parliamentary meeting/webinar is part of a series where we focus on various aspects of individual chemical elements and is a result of our EuChemS Periodic Table highlighting element availability, vulnerability and sustainability.
The rare-earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 elements comprising the metals of group 3 of the periodic table (scandium and yttrium) and the 15 lanthanoides (lanthanum to lutetium). The term “rare-earth” is misleading, because these elements occur more frequently than their name would suggest. However, these elements are only found in a few economically viable sources ‐ primarily outside the EU. Therefore, REE are at the top of the EU’s list of critical raw materials.
Although often not recognized, REE materials are part of many high-tech devices and important gadgets for our daily life. They can be found, for example, in smartphones, televisions, computers, lasers, missiles, camera lenses, fluorescent light bulbs, catalytic converters, batteries, propulsion motors,magnets, and contrast agents to name only a few applications.
Objectives
The purpose of the webinar is to answer key questions such as:
- What is the impact of using REE on reserves, resources, geopolitics, and the environment?
- How can REE recycling be improved and embedded in the circular economy?
- What are the present and future applications of REE for optical devices, magnets, catalysts and devices for energy conversion?
Morning
10:00 – 10:10 | Opening by MEP Annalisa Corrado, European Parliament, Host, and Angela Agostiano, EuChemS President
10:10 – 10:20 | Introductory remarks, Peter Roesky, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Scientific Chair of the event
10:20 – 10:30 | The EuChemS Table of Chemical Elements and Rare Earth Elements (REE), Nicola Armaroli, CNR – The Italian National Research Council and the European Chemical Society (EuChemS)
10:30 – 10:50 | REE extraction: reserves, resources, geopolitics, environmental impact, Andrea Dini, CNR Pisa, Italy
10:50 – 11:10 | REE recycling and circular economy, Marie Perrin, ETH Zürich and CEO and co-founder of REEcover
11:10 – 11:30 | The EU policy on REE and critical materials, Milan Grohol, Policy Officer at DG GROW, European Commission
11:30 – 11:55 | Panel discussion led by Peter Roesky
11:55 – 12:00 | Closing by MEP
Afternoon
14:00 – 14:20 | Optical properties of REE materials and their applications, Andries Meijerink Utrecht
14:20 – 14:40 | Magnetic properties of REE materials and their applications, Mario Ruben, KIT Karlsruhe
14:40 – 15:00 | REE materials in catalysis and other applications, Evgueni Kirillov Rennes
10 MINUTES BREAK
15:10 – 15:30 | REE for the energy transition, Jürgen Gassmann
15:30 – 16:25 | Panel Discussion led by Angela Agostiano
16:25 – 16:30 | Conclusions by Peter Roesky
MEP Annalisa Corrado
After graduating in mechanical engineering, Annalisa Corrado obtained a doctorate in energy at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, focusing on the analysis of the environmental impact of energy systems. She was responsible for the development of innovative projects at ESCO AzzeroCO2 and for the technical activities of the Kyoto Club association. Active in training and scientific dissemination, she wrote ‘Le ragazze salveranno il mondo’ (April 2020, edition People), ‘Nessi e Connessi’ (April 2023, edition Il Saggiatore), ‘Pensiamo verde’ (September 2023, edition Il Battello a Vapore, Pimme). Since April 2023, she has been in the secretariat of the Democratic Party with Elly Schlein Secretary, with delegations to Ecological Transition, Climate, Green economy and Agenda 2030.
Since July 2024, Annalisa Corrado has been elected to the European Parliament with the Democratic Party in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She is a full member of the ENVI Committee (Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety) and substitute member of the ITRE (Committee on Industry, Research and Energy) and AGRI (Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development) Committees. She is a member of the DPAL (Delegation for relations with Palestine) and DMED (Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean) delegations.
Peter Roesky (Scientific Chair)
Peter W. Roesky earned his diploma in 1992 from the University of Würzburg and his doctorate from the Technical University of Munich in 1994 under Prof. W. A. Herrmann. After a postdoc at Northwestern University with Prof. T. J. Marks (1995–1996), he completed his Habilitation at the University of Karlsruhe in 1999. In 2001, he became a Full Professor at Freie Universität Berlin and, in 2008, a Full Professor of inorganic functional materials at KIT.
He served as Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biosciences at KIT from 2013 to 2015 and received the 2019 JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan. In 2020, he was awarded a Reinhart Koselleck Project from the German Science Foundation. Peter W. Roesky was honored with the Frank H. Spedding Award in 2022 and the Marianne-Baudler-Award in 2024. Currently, he is the chair of the Wöhler Association for Inorganic Chemistry of the GDCh. His research interest revolves around the synthetic inorganic and organometallic chemistry of s-block metals, silicon, pnictogens, coinage metals, and lanthanides.
Angela Agostiano
Angela Agostiano is a Full Professor at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy, specialising in Chemical-Physical Processes. Her research focuses on preparing and characterising nanosised semiconductors for applications in photochemistry, environmental science, and sensing.
She served as the first female President of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) from 2017 to 2019, promoting SCI’s European dimension and connecting diverse chemistry disciplines, academia, industry, and professional organisations. She also worked on major social issues, drafting positions on chemical weapons to support the image and culture of chemistry in society and politics.
In 2022, she was elected EuChems President-Elect and began her full presidency in 2024. Agostiano also chairs the EuChemS Task Group on Inclusion and Diversity.
Nicola Armaroli
Nicola Armaroli earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences in 1994 at the University of Bologna. Since 2007, he has been a Research Director at CNR, the Italian National Research Council. He is a member of the Italian National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Armaroli is also an Elected Member of the EuChemS Executive Board and a former Chairman of its Working Party on Chemistry and Energy.
He has published over 250 scientific papers and 12 books and serves as a consultant on energy and resources for international institutions and companies. His research focuses on photochemistry and photophysics, particularly luminescent materials for converting light into electricity and fuels. He also studies the transition to sustainable energy models in relation to climate change and resource scarcity. He has received multiple awards for his work.
Andrea Dini
Andrea Dini is a Senior Researcher and Director at the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources – CNR in Pisa, Italy. His research focuses on magmatic-hydrothermal systems, ore deposits, and geothermal systems, combining global expeditions with lab work at CNR’s mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic labs. He also serves as a CNR expert on Critical Raw Materials. His studies include mapping and modeling rocks and ore deposits, geochemistry, and geochronology of magmatic and hydrothermal rocks, as well as the mobilization of REE, HFSE, and boron in granites.
Andrea Dini’s fieldwork covers regions like Tuscany, the Alps, Antarctica, and Morocco, focusing on plutonic intrusions, LCT pegmatites, and skarn-related ore deposits. He has also researched geothermal systems, lithium, and oceanic hydrothermal systems.
Jürgen Gassmann
Jürgen Gassmann finished his studies in the field of materials science in 2009 at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, where he stayed as research assistant for another 3 years. In 2013 he joined the Fraunhofer IWKS and started working on rare earth permanent magnets, especially Nd-Fe-B.
Since 2017 he has been head of the department “Magnetic Materials” at IWKS. During his work at Fraunhofer he has been responsible for the installation of a pilot plant for production and recycling of rare earth permanent magnets.
Milan Grohol
Milan Grohol is a Policy Officer in the Unit of Energy intensive industries and Raw Materials at DG GROW, European Commission. Since 2004, he has contributed to the EU raw materials policy, legislation, initiatives and programming of Horizon R&D funding.
He leads the EU assessment of the Critical and Strategic Raw Materials, and the organisation of the EU Raw Materials Week. He represents DG GROW in Bureau of UNECE Expert Group on Resource Management and in the Kuratorium of BGR, Germany.
Evgueni Kirillov Rennes
Evgueni Kirillov obtained his B.S./M.S. degree from Nizhny Novgorod State University in 1996 and his Ph.D. from the G.A. Razuvaev Institute of Organometallic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 2000, under the supervision of M. N. Bochkarev and A. A. Trifonov. He then conducted postdoctoral research with J.-F. Carpentier at the University of Rennes and J. A. Gladysz at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. In 2008, he completed his habilitation (HDR), and since 2009, he has been an Associate Professor at the University of Rennes.
His research focuses on organometallic chemistry, particularly its applications in polymerization catalysis, fine chemical synthesis, and catalytic CO₂ fixation, including collaborations with industry. He also serves as a consultant for TotalEnergies on polymerization catalysis. He has coauthored over 100 publications, including research papers, patents, and book chapters.
Andries Meijerink
Andries Meijerink earned his MSc and PhD in Chemistry at Utrecht University. After a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin, he returned to Utrecht in 1996 as Chair of Solid State Chemistry at the Debye Institute. He leads research on luminescence spectroscopy of rare earth ions and quantum dots.
His work on rare earth ions focuses on light conversion processes for LEDs, displays, solar cells, and fiber amplifiers. His quantum dot research explores quantum confinement and surface effects on electronic structures and exciton dynamics. He also integrates these themes in doped nanocrystal research.
Meijerink has received numerous awards and was elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in 2009.
Marie Perrin
Marie Perrin holds a Master’s degree in chemistry from Paris-Saclay University. Following a research stay at MIT, she moved to Switzerland, where she completed her PhD in rare earth chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Victor Mougel at ETH Zurich. Marie is the CEO and co-founder of REEcover, a startup dedicated to scaling a rare earth recycling technology that she patented during her graduate studies.
Passionate about fostering diversity and science policy, she has been actively involved in the young chemistry community through the Young Swiss Chemical Society and the European Young Chemist Network. Her contributions have been recognized with several awards such as the European Young Chemists Award and the ETH Spark Award.
Mario Ruben
Mario Ruben serves as the Chair of the ‘Molecular Materials’ Research Unit at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). His research group, ‘Molecular Quantum Materials,’ focuses on designing functional nanosystems through advanced organic and inorganic synthesis methods, as well as supramolecular self-assembly techniques.
These approaches are aimed at the development and integration of these nanosystems into cutting-edge quantum devices.