Rare Metal Antimony: Why It's So Important and What Applications It Has

What are the uses of antimony? Antimony, a metal that is scarce across the world, is highly valued as a strategic resource in many countries. In this blog post, we will discuss: Why antimony is so important? And what are its applications?

Why is antimony so important?

First, the fact is, that antimony is very scarce. Antimony is a rare silvery-white metal that is unevenly distributed in the Earth's crust and is very difficult to concentrate (it exists in the form of sulfides and sulfide minerals). Its average abundance is only about two to five parts per million, similar to thallium (0.5 ppm).

According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, by the end of 2018, there were a total of 1.5 million tons of global antimony resources, slightly higher than precious metals and some rare metals. Although there are up to 120 types of minerals known to contain antimony, its industrial value is only significant in about 10 of those minerals, which contain over 20% antimony. And the global antimony resources are mainly concentrated in China, Russia, and Bolivia, with these three countries accounting for nearly 80% of the world's total reserves.

What are the uses of antimony?

Antimony is widely used. Flame retardants, alloys, ceramics, glass, pigments, semiconductor components, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals all benefit from the incorporation of antimony. However, antimony utilization in flame retardants takes up the majority - approximately 60% - of antimony consumption. Alloy materials for batteries, sliding bearings, and soldering agents comprise of about 20% of antimony consumption while the rest is allocated elsewhere.

1. Flame Retardants: The main application of antimony is in the synthesis of antimony trioxide, which is used to make refractory materials. Combustion can be slowed down by the way antimony trioxide forms antimony halides. These flame retardants are widely utilized in glass fiber composites like the engine covers of lightweight aircraft, children's apparel, toys, and automobile seat covers.

2. Industrial Materials: Antimony resists corrosion, is not readily oxidized at ambient temperature, and is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Its primary function in alloys is to raise hardness, and it is frequently employed as a hardening agent in metals and alloys. Due to its resistance to corrosion, it is the material of choice for making electrode plates for chemical pumps, cable sheathing, automobile batteries, and chemical pipelines. Meanwhile, gears, bushings, and bearings can all be made from it because of its exceptional strength and resistance to wear.

3. Pharmaceuticals: The fields of biology and medicine also employ antimony. Potassium antimony tartrate was formerly used to treat schistosomiasis, but praziquantel eventually took its place. Antimonial drugs are employed as emetics. Additionally, antimony and its derivatives are utilized in a number of veterinary medications. One such medication is antimonious tartrate (lithium antimony thiolate), which is applied topically to ruminant skin.

4. Electronic Materials: High-purity antimony and its compounds are excellent building blocks for thermoelectric and semiconductor manufacturing. When creating n-type silicon wafers with extremely high conductivity, antimony is frequently used as a dopant. This substance is utilized in the manufacturing of Hall effect devices, diodes, and infrared detectors.

5. Pigments: Antimony is an excellent white pigment and is used as a filler in enamel, ceramics, and rubber industries. It's also a common pigment added in paint, glass, textiles, and chemical industries.

6.Photovoltaic Materials: Antimony is now seeing an increase in demand thanks to the popularity of photovoltaics. Photovoltaic glass is divided into three groups: ultra-clear rolled glass, transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coated glass, and ultra-clear float glass, although ultra-clear rolled glass is the most popular. Efficiency in solar cell photovoltaics can be impeded by sunlight absorption and reflection through the photovoltaic glass, thus the transparency of photovoltaic glass must improve continuously, which is also a trend in its development.

Ultra-clear rolled glass and some float glass can be clarified with the use of antimony. Photovoltaic clarifying agents require antimony as an essential element. When antimony oxide comes into contact with alkali and hydrogen peroxide, it can produce sodium antimonate. Sodium antimonate can directly decompose and release oxygen without reaching high valence within a certain temperature range.

Lastly, although antimony has many significant uses, it's also highly toxic as a heavy metal. If you unfortunately suffer from antimony poisoning, it may cause dermatitis, rhinitis, headache, vomiting, and other symptoms. So, the use of antimony must be taken seriously and handled with care.