The Leaching Behaviour of Indium and Impurities from the LCD Glass of Smartphones and Tablets

Illés, István B. and Kékesi, Tamás (2021) The Leaching Behaviour of Indium and Impurities from the LCD Glass of Smartphones and Tablets. Materials Science and Engineering, 46 (1). pp. 35-42. ISSN 2063-6792

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Abstract

Primarily, the mechanical removal of LCD panels from smartphones was exam-ined, and a relatively easy and quick manual method was established. The LCD panels can be separated from the rest of the screen in a few seconds. In the cases of more tightly packed applications, the whole screen can be directly ground to a fine powder. The separated LCD screens were leached in different concentrations of HCl and H2SO4. The latter was found as practically more advantageous. Leaching with slightly acidic solutions (0.1 M H2SO4) results in longer leaching time, however solutions with higher purity can be obtained. If further pu-rification is required, a relatively straightforward method of selective hydrolytic precipitation has also been examined. The practically recoverable amounts of indium may be close to the 400 mg/kg level in a dilute sulphuric acid solution containing less than 10 mg/dm3 of total impurities (Fe, Zn, Al, Cr, Ni and Cu).

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