Lutetium oxide, a white solid, is a cubic compound of lutetium sometimes used in the preparation of specialty glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

es. It is also called lutecia. It is a lanthanide oxide, also known as a rare earth

Rare earth element

As defined by IUPAC, rare earth elements or rare earth metals are a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium...

.

History

In 1879, Jean-Charles-Galissard de Margnac (1817-1894), a French chemist, claimed to have discovered ytterbium, but actually he had found a mixture of elements. In 1907, a French chemist Georges Urbain (1872-1938) reported that ytterbium was a mixture of two new elements and not a single element. Two more chemists came to the same conclusion. They were from Germany, Karl Auer (1858-1929) and America, Charles James (1880-1926). The two compounds they discovered were neoytterbium and lutecium. However, none of these chemists actually dealt with pure lutetium. The compound they found was usually lutetium oxide.

Uses

The product of Lu₂O₃ and PdO (formed at high pressure and temperature in the presence of potassium chlorate

Potassium chlorate

Potassium chlorate is a compound containing potassium, chlorine and oxygen atoms, with the molecular formula KClO3. In its pure form, it is a white crystalline substance. It is the most common chlorate in industrial use...

) has a potential use in superconducting materials.
Lutetium(III) oxide is an important raw material for laser crystals. It also has specialized uses in ceramics, glass, phosphors, and lasers. Lutetium(III) Oxide is used as a catalyst in cracking, alkylation, hydrogenation, and polymerization.