American Elements: Erbium Supplier & Technical Information

Erbium information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.

Erbium has application in glass coloring, as an amplifier in fiber optics, and in lasers for medical and dental use. Erbium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. The ion has a very narrow absorption band coloring erbium salts pink. It is therefore used in eyeware and decorative glassware. It can neutralize discoloring impurities such as ferric ions and produce a neutral gray shade. It is used in a variety of glass products for this purpose. It is particularly useful as an amplifier for fiber optic data transfer. Erbium lases at the wavelength required to provide an efficient optical method of amplification, 1.55 microns. Lasers based on Er:YAG are ideally suited for surgical applications because of its ability to deliver energy without thermal build-up in tissue.

Erbium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

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available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Erbium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Erbium is a Block F, Group 3, Period 6 element. The electronic configuration is [Xe]4f¹²6s². In its elemental form erbium's CAS number is 7440-52-0. The erbium atom has a radius of 173.4.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is unknown.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Erbium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Erbium was first discovered by Carl Mosander in 1843.

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Erbium Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of Erbium and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.

Isotope	Atomic Mass	% Abundance on Earth
Er-162	161.929	0.14
Er-164	163.929	1.61
Er-166	165.930	33.6
Er-167	166.932	22.95
Er-168	167.932	26.8
Er-170	169.935	14.9

Erbium Safety Data. The safety data for Erbium metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for Erbium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:

1^st Ionization Energy	589.31 kJ mol^-1
2nd Ionization Energy	1151.08 kJ mol^-1
3rd Ionization Energy	2194.09 kJ mol^-1

Conductivity. As to Erbium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured in terms of electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 107 µOcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.24. The thermal conductivity of Erbium is 14.3 W m^-1 K^-1.

Thermal Properties of Erbium. The melting point and boiling point for Erbium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.

Heat of Fusion	17.2 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Vaporization	280 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Atomization	318.32 kJ mol^-1

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