Dysprosium

Dysprosium is a soft, silvery lanthanide that is added to neodymium-iron-boron magnets to maintain their magnetic strength at high temperatures, without it, EV motor magnets would weaken in a warm engine. Its name means hard to get in Greek, it is one of the most difficult lanthanides to isolate.

• Atomic Number6666 protons, 66 electrons
• Atomic Mass162.500 u66× heavier than hydrogen
• State at Room TempSolidSolid
• Density8.55 g/cm³
• Melting / Boiling1411.8°C / 2566.8°C
• Discovered1886

What is Dysprosium?

Dysprosium is a lanthanide rare earth metal with 66 protons. Adding dysprosium to NdFeB magnets prevents them from losing their magnetic properties at the elevated temperatures of electric vehicle motors and wind turbines. Dysprosium is therefore a critical material for the clean energy transition, and its supply is almost entirely from China, creating geopolitical concern.

Fact Dysprosium is element 66 in the periodic table, symbol Dy. As a lanthanide, it is part of the group of 15 elements sharing very similar chemistry, formed by the filling of the 4f electron subshell. All lanthanides form stable +3 ions and are found together in rare earth mineral deposits.

Where you find Dysprosium

On Earth

Dysprosium is found alongside other rare earth elements in minerals such as monazite, bastnäsite and xenotime. China produces the vast majority of world supply, with smaller contributions from Australia, the United States, Russia and India. It is never found as a free metal in nature.

• Monazite and bastnäsite. The primary rare earth minerals that contain Dysprosium.
• Ion-adsorption clays. Certain clay deposits in southern China are particularly rich in heavier lanthanides including Dysprosium.

How we use Dysprosium

Adding dysprosium to NdFeB magnets prevents them from losing their magnetic properties at the elevated temperatures of electric vehicle motors and wind turbines. Dysprosium is therefore a critical material for the clean energy transition, and its supply is almost entirely from China, creating geopolitical concern.

Did you know? Dysprosium was one of the last lanthanides to be isolated in pure form. The extraordinary chemical similarity between adjacent lanthanides made separation extraordinarily difficult until ion exchange chromatography was developed in the 1940s.

How it was discovered

Dysprosium was identified and separated from the mixture of rare earth elements found in minerals from Ytterby, Sweden and other locations, through painstaking fractional crystallisation and spectroscopic analysis over many decades in the 19th century.

Deeper dive: dysprosium and rare earth supply chains

The lanthanides, often called rare earth elements, are critically important for clean energy technologies. Neodymium and praseodymium go into the powerful magnets in EV motors and wind turbines. Dysprosium improves those magnets at high temperatures. Lanthanum and cerium go into NiMH batteries, catalysts and glass. Europium and terbium provide red and green in LED phosphors. This means that the global transition to clean energy depends heavily on rare earth elements, and their supply is dominated by China, which produces over 60% of the world's rare earth output. Concerns about supply security have spurred investment in rare earth mining projects in Australia, Canada, the USA and elsewhere.

Moving to 67 protons brings us to the next element on the periodic table.