Vanadium (V)

Vanadium (symbol V) is the chemical element with atomic number 23: a transition metal, solid at 0 °C, with an atomic mass of 50.942 u. Discovered in 1801 (Andrés Manuel del Río).

Vanadium is a hard metal that, added in tiny amounts to steel, makes it much stronger and more shock-resistant. Its compounds come in a wide range of colors, which earned it the name of a goddess of beauty. Today it is at the heart of giant batteries that can store electricity from renewable energy.

Key facts

Atomic number: 23
Symbol: V
French name: Vanadium
Atomic mass: 50.942 u
Molar mass: 50.942 g/mol
Family: Transition metals
Position: period 4, group 5, d-block
State at 0 °C: Solid
Melting point: 1,909.9 °C
Boiling point: 3,406.9 °C
Density: 6.11 g/cm³
Electronegativity (Pauling): 1.63
First ionization energy: 651 kJ/mol
Atomic radius: 135 pm
Electron configuration: [Ar] 3d³ 4s²
Abundance in Earth's crust: 120 ppm (20th most abundant element)
Indicative price: 370 $/kg (order of magnitude)
Radioactive: no
Discovery: 1801, Andrés Manuel del Río

Origin of the name

From Vanadis, the Norse goddess of beauty.

What does vanadium look like?

A steel-gray metal with a bluish sheen, hard but ductile. Its dissolved compounds shift from violet to green, blue and yellow depending on their oxidation state.

Where is vanadium found?

About 120 ppm of Earth's crust, more than copper or zinc. It is found mainly in titanium-bearing magnetites, as well as in some crude oils and shales.

Natural sources

Titanomagnetite
Vanadinite
Patronite
Carnotite

How is vanadium produced?

It is mostly recovered from the slag left by making steel from vanadium-rich iron ores, or extracted directly from those ores. World production is around 100,000 tonnes a year, about two thirds of it in China.

Top producers

China
Russia
South Africa
Brazil

What is vanadium used for?

High-strength steels (about 85% of use): rebar, tools, mechanical parts.
Titanium alloys for aerospace (Ti-6Al-4V).
Redox flow batteries for large-scale electricity storage.
Catalyst for making sulfuric acid (vanadium pentoxide).

In everyday life

Wrenches and tools in “chrome-vanadium” steel
Steel reinforcement in concrete
Car suspension springs

Role in living things

Some organisms use it: sea squirts (marine animals) concentrate spectacular amounts in their blood, and certain algae and bacteria use it in enzymes. In humans it is present in traces, but it has not been shown to be essential.

Hazards of vanadium

Vanadium pentoxide is toxic and irritates the airways; it is classified as a possible carcinogen. The solid metal poses little danger.

Cosmic origin

White dwarfs: Produced by the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf (type Ia supernova).
Supernovae: Forged in the cores of massive stars, then scattered when they explode.

History of vanadium

In 1801, mineralogist Andrés Manuel del Río discovered it in Mexico, but was persuaded it was impure chromium. In 1830, the Swede Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovered it and named it after Vanadís, a byname of the Norse goddess Freyja, for its colors. Henry Roscoe isolated the metal in 1867.

Did you know?

Henry Ford used vanadium steel for his Model T (1908), lighter and stronger than his competitors' steels.
The fly agaric, the red mushroom with white spots, contains a vanadium-based molecule called amavadin.
A vanadium flow battery can run through thousands of cycles without significant loss of capacity.

Isotopes of vanadium

One stable isotope, vanadium-51, and one natural radioactive isotope, vanadium-50. The latter has one of the longest half-lives ever measured, millions of times the age of the Universe.

vanadium-48: radioactive, half-life 16 days. Tracer in biological research and for studying material wear.
vanadium-50: 0.25% of natural vanadium, radioactive, half-life 2.7 × 10¹⁷ years. Its extraordinarily slow decay was only measured in 2011.
vanadium-51: 99.75% of natural vanadium, stable

Related elements

Same family (transition metals): Scandium (Sc), Titanium (Ti), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Yttrium (Y), Zirconium (Zr), Niobium (Nb), Molybdenum (Mo), Technetium (Tc), Ruthenium (Ru), Rhodium (Rh), Palladium (Pd), Silver (Ag), Cadmium (Cd), Hafnium (Hf), Tantalum (Ta), Tungsten (W), Rhenium (Re), Osmium (Os), Iridium (Ir), Platinum (Pt), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Rutherfordium (Rf), Dubnium (Db), Seaborgium (Sg), Bohrium (Bh), Hassium (Hs).

Same column (group 5): Niobium (Nb), Tantalum (Ta), Dubnium (Db).