Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Elemental Compositions of Over 80 Cell Phones

  • Published:
Journal of Electronic Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Over the last few years, 85 cell phones have been disassembled, ground up, dissolved, and analyzed for elemental content, mainly for information about the metals present in the phones, but also for some metalloids and nonmetals. The following list of 38 elements were detected in some or all of the phones: Be, B, Mg, Al, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Y, Nb, Pd, Ag, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Ba, Ta, W, Pt, Au, Tl, Pb, Bi, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, and Er. Cadmium was never detected. This paper discusses the methods used for carrying out the analysis, proposes possible sources in the telephones for the elements of interest, the reasons for the interest in most of the elements, and method repeatability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Method 1311 (United States of America, Environmental Protection Agency, July 1992), http://www.epa.gov/ wastes/hazard/testmethods/sw846/pdfs/1311.pdf. Accessed August 12, 2013.

  2. Y. Jang and T.G. Townsend, Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 4778–4784 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. B. Christian, D. Turner, and A. Romanov, Proceedings of the International Lead Free Conference, Toronto, Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA), May, 2005.

  4. B. Christian and A. Romanov, Proceedings of IPC APEX, 2006.

  5. Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS). (European Commission, 2013), http://ec.europa.eu/ enterprise/policies/european-standards/harmonised-standards/restriction-of-hazardous-substances/index_en.htm. Accessed July 7, 2013.

  6. J. Pendergast and R. Gosling, Congo’s Conflict Minerals: The Next Blood Diamonds. (Enough Project, 2011), http:// www.enoughproject.org/blogs/congos-conflict-minerals-next-blood-diamonds. Accessed August 12, 2013.

  7. Noble Metal. (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Noble_metal. Accessed August 12, 2013.

  8. C. Burns, Hey Big Brother. (ExportLawBlog, 2011), http:// www.exportlawblog.com/archives/2776. Accessed August 12, 2013.

  9. M. Humphries, Rare Earth Elements: The Global Supply Chain, Rare Earth Legislation in the 111th Congress, pp. 10–11. (Congressional Research Service, July 28, 2010), http://www.scribd.com/doc/36926385/Rare-Earth-Elements-Report. Accessed July 16, 2013.

  10. H.R. 6523 (111th): Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2. (U.S. Congress, 2011), http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-6523. Accessed August 12, 2013.

  11. REACH. (European Commission, 2013), http://ec.europa.eu/ environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm. Accessed July 7, 2013.

  12. Chemicals Management Plan (Government of Canada, 2013), http://www.chemicalsubstanceschimiques.gc.ca/plan/ index-eng.php. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  13. B. Christian, D. Turner, and A. Romanov, Proceedings of the International Pb-free Conference, SMTA, Toronto, May 2005.

  14. ICP Analysis of metal/metalloid particulates from solder operation (U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA). https://www.osha. gov/dts/sltc/methods/inorganic/id206/id206.html. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  15. J. Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  16. EU Nickel Directive [94/27/EC, as amended]. (Official Journal of the European Communities, No. L 188/2), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ: L:1994:188:0001:0002:EN:PDF. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  17. C. Liden and S. Johnsson, Nickel on the Swedish Market before the Nickel Directive. (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 2001), http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11156037. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  18. Silver Price. (Silverprice, 2013), http://silverprice.org/silver- price-per-kilo.html (and the Gold Equivalent). Accessed August 13, 2013.

  19. Conflict Minerals. (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Conflict_minerals. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  20. C. Dion and G. Perrault, Summary of Good Cleanup and Decontamination Practices for Workplaces with Beryllium-Containing Dust, Institut de Recherché Robert-Sauve en Santé et en Sécurité du travail, Dépot légal, Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, 2005.

  21. Phase-Change Memory. (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Phase-change_memory. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  22. Cobalt Facts (CDI, 2006), http://www.thecdi.com/cdi/images/ documents/facts/COBALT_FACTS-Electronics.pdf. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  23. Steel (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  24. Manganese (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Manganese. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  25. R. Grob, D. Bunke, C. Gensch, S. Zangl, and A. Manhart, Study on Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Not Regulated by the RoHS Directive. (Oko Institute, October 2008), http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ waste/weee/pdf/hazardous_substances_report.pdf. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  26. Titanium (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Titanium. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  27. Vanadium Supply and Demand Outlook. (National Research Council, Commission on Sociotechnical Systems, National Materials Advisory Board, 1978), http://books.google.ca/books?id=wz8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=uses+of+vanadium+in+electronics+-batteries+-battery+-steel&source=bl&ots=zFRt1NR5AT&sig=3d64RcIE-8lNTvOWf5_vhXA23iU&hl=en&ei=Qo1WTo6hFIbf0QGM-vHJDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=uses%20of%20vanadium%20in%20electronics%20-batteries%20-battery%20-steel&f=false. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  28. Vanadium (Wikipedia, 2013), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Vanadium. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  29. J. Fjelstad, The Death of Common Sense, CircuiTree, BNP Media, July1, 2002.

  30. Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative—Project 3.1, Guideline on Material Recovery and Recycling of End-of-Life Mobile Phones. (UNEP and Basel Convention, March 25, 2009), http://wm.epa.gov.tw/web/mobile/GuidelineMaterial200903 25.pdf. Accessed August 13, 2013.

  31. Chemicool Website. www.chemicool.com/elements.

  32. Acros Organics, Reference Handbook of Fine Chemicals (Morris Plains, NJ, 2006/2007).

  33. Aldrich, Handbook of Fine Chemicals, Sigma-Aldrich Canada, Oakville, ON, 2012–2014.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank John Miles, Senior Director, Material Quality for his support. We would also like to thank Nancy Wang, who helped carry out some of the later analytical work. Finally, we would like to thank Denny Fritz of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for providing several of the cell phones tested.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blackberry, 25 Reuter Drive, Cambridge, ON, N3E 1A9, Canada

    Beverley Christian & Alexandre Romanov

  2. NutriAg Ltd., 39 Gail Drive, Toronto, ON, M9M 1M5, Canada

    Irina Romanova

  3. Waltham, MA, USA

    Laura J. Turbini

Authors
  1. Beverley Christian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexandre Romanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Irina Romanova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Laura J. Turbini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beverley Christian.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Christian, B., Romanov, A., Romanova, I. et al. Elemental Compositions of Over 80 Cell Phones. J. Electron. Mater. 43, 4199–4213 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3310-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3310-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation