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The demand of the critical metals, like certain rare earth elements, will increase in the future as they are utilized in everyday life applications such as mobile phones, lighting, and medical equipment. They are also crucial metals in the green technology revolution contributing to fossil-fuel-free traffic and energy production because the permanent magnets containing rare earth elements are used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. The increasing usage of the rare earth elements is based on their intrinsic magnetic and photonic properties, which also makes them excellent starting materials for the next-generation electronic devices and photonic sensors.

The main aim in this three-year research project conducted at the Universities of Jyväskylä and Turku is to develop the next-generation sensor materials based on the rare earth elements in such a way that the energy consumption and impact on the nature is minimized. The processed metals will be recovered from the secondary waste streams using the same metal scavengers in the recovery and manufacturing processes. During the manufacturing step, optical sensors responding on light, pressure or viruses on the surface, will be produced from the recovered metals. The successful realization of the project will simplify the current recovery and manufacturing processes of metals that utilize multiple compounds and chemicals in the different steps/phase of the processes. The project combines resource efficiency, circular economy, and intelligent recovery technologies as well as innovative novel materials in which the degree of processing is as high as possible.