[9] Yttrium is also used in the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers, superconductors, various medical applications, and tracing various materials to enhance their properties.

[14] As a trivalent transition metal, yttrium forms various inorganic compounds, generally in the +3 oxidation state, by giving up all three of its valence electrons.

[22] Yttrium forms a water-insoluble fluoride, hydroxide, and oxalate, but its bromide, chloride, iodide, nitrate and sulfate are all soluble in water.

[10] Similarly, carbon, phosphorus, selenium, silicon and sulfur all form binary compounds with yttrium at elevated temperatures.

The s-process is a slow neutron capture of lighter elements inside pulsating red giant stars.

Yttrium-89 is thought to be more abundant than it otherwise would be, due in part to the s-process, which allows enough time for isotopes created by other processes to decay by electron emission (neutron → proton).

[29] Electron emission of isotopes with those mass numbers is simply less prevalent due to this stability, resulting in them having a higher abundance.

[32] In 1787, part-time chemist Carl Axel Arrhenius found a heavy black rock in an old quarry near the Swedish village of Ytterby (now part of the Stockholm Archipelago).

[33] Thinking it was an unknown mineral containing the newly discovered element tungsten,[34] he named it ytterbite[e] and sent samples to various chemists for analysis.

[33] Johan Gadolin at the University of Åbo identified a new oxide (or "earth") in Arrhenius' sample in 1789, and published his completed analysis in 1794.

[33] Since yttria was found to be a mineral and not an oxide, Martin Heinrich Klaproth renamed it gadolinite in honor of Gadolin.

[51] Lunar rock samples collected during the American Apollo Project have a relatively high content of yttrium.

This location is described as having "tremendous potential" for rare-earth elements and yttrium (REY), according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

[54] "This REY-rich mud has great potential as a rare-earth metal resource because of the enormous amount available and its advantageous mineralogical features," the study reads.

The study shows that more than 16 million short tons (15 billion kilograms) of rare-earth elements could be "exploited in the near future."

As well as yttrium (Y), which is used in products like camera lenses and mobile phone screens, the rare-earth elements found are europium (Eu), terbium (Tb), and dysprosium (Dy).

[55] As yttrium is chemically similar to lanthanides, it occurs in the same ores (rare-earth minerals) and is extracted by the same refinement processes.

Yttrium is concentrated in the HREE group due to its ion size, though it has a lower atomic mass.

[51][66] The red component of color television cathode ray tubes is typically emitted from an yttria (Y2O3) or yttrium oxide sulfide (Y2O2S) host lattice doped with europium (III) cation (Eu3+) phosphors.

[15][9][i] The red color itself is emitted from the europium while the yttrium collects energy from the electron gun and passes it to the phosphor.

[15] Cerium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG:Ce) crystals are used as phosphors to make white LEDs.

[15] Having a high melting point, yttrium oxide is used in some ceramic and glass to impart shock resistance and low thermal expansion properties.

Radioembolization is a low toxicity, targeted liver cancer therapy that uses millions of tiny beads made of glass or resin containing 90Y.

The radioactive microspheres are delivered directly to the blood vessels feeding specific liver tumors/segments or lobes.

Needles made of 90Y, which can cut more precisely than scalpels, have been used to sever pain-transmitting nerves in the spinal cord,[34] and 90Y is also used to carry out radionuclide synovectomy in the treatment of inflamed joints, especially knees, in people with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers are studying a class of materials known as perovskites that are alternative combinations of these elements, hoping to develop a practical high-temperature superconductor.

[62] Yttrium is used in small quantities in the cathodes of some Lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP), which are then commonly called LiFeYPO4 chemistry, or LYP.

Similar to LFP, LYP batteries offer high energy density, good safety and long life.

[10] Acute exposure to yttrium compounds can cause shortness of breath, coughing, chest pain, and cyanosis.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit (REL) is 1 mg/m3 (5.8×10−10 oz/cu in) over an 8-hour workday.