Niobium 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.
 Niobium is the basis for various barium titanate compositions used as dielectric coatings in telecommunications and small advanced electronics, such as cell phones, pagers and laptop computers. Niobium 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. Niobium has medical research applications. It is alloyed to produce arc-welding rods and in corrosion-resistant steel.
Niobium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are
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. Niobium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Niobium is a Block D, Group 5, Period 5 element. The number of electrons in each of Niobium's shells is 2, 8, 18, 12, 1 and its electronic configuration is [Kr] 4d4 5s1. In its elemental form niobium's CAS number is 7440-03-1. The niobium atom has a radius of 142.9.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. Some niobium compounds are considered very toxic.
 All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Niobium 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.
Niobium was first discovered by Charles Hatchett in 1801.
The word Niobium originates from Niobe, daughter of mythical Greek king Tantalus.
 niobium |
 Niob |
 niobio |
 Nióbio |
 niobio |
 Niob |
Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of niobium and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
| Isotope |
Atomic Mass |
% Abundance on Earth |
| Nb-93 |
92.906378 |
100 |
The following table shows the abundance of Niobium present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
| |
Typical Human Body |
Universe |
| by Weight |
no data |
2 ppb |
| by Atom |
no data |
0.0 ppb |
Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for niobium 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. Niobium compounds have no biological role.
Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for niobium (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:
| 1st Ionization Energy |
652.13 kJ mol-1 |
| 2nd Ionization Energy |
1381.68 kJ mol-1 |
| 3rd Ionization Energy |
2416.01 kJ mol-1 |
Conductivity. As to niobium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 12.5 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.6. The thermal conductivity of niobium is 53.7 W m-1 K-1.
Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for niobium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
| Heat of Fusion |
27.2 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Vaporization |
680.19 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Atomization |
722.819 kJ mol-1 |
Recent Research & Development for NiobiumOrganically templated metal germanate: Ionothermal synthesis of (C(8)H(24)N(4))[NbOGe(6)O(13)(OH)(2)F].
Nguyen QB, Lii KH.
Dalton Trans. 2011 Sep 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
21931917
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Active Low-valent Niobium Catalysts from NbCl5 and Hydrosilanes for Selective Intermolecular Cycloadditions.
Satoh Y, Obora Y.
J Org Chem. 2011 Sep 15. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
21919436
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Synthesis of transparent aqueous sols of colloidal layered niobate nanocrystals at room temperature.
Ban T, Yoshikawa S, Ohya Y.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2011 Aug 19. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
21903222
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
White Phosphorus Activation at a Metal-Phosphorus Triple Bond: a New Route to cyclo-Triphosphorus or cyclo-Pentaphosphorus Complexes of Niobium.
Tofan D, Cossairt BM, Cummins CC.
Inorg Chem. 2011 Sep 6. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
21894967
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Niobium phosphates as new highly selective catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane.
Weng W, Davies M, Whiting G, Solsona B, Kiely CJ, Carley AF, Taylor SH.
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2011 Oct 14;13(38):17395-404. Epub 2011 Aug 31.
PMID:
21881631
[PubMed - in process]
Assessment of the Morphological, Biochemical, and Kinetic Properties for Candida rugosa Lipase Immobilized on Hydrous Niobium Oxide to Be Used in the Biodiesel Synthesis.
Miranda M, Urioste D, Andrade Souza LT, Mendes AA, de Castro HF.
Enzyme Res. 2011;2011:216435. Epub 2011 Aug 16.
PMID:
21876790
[PubMed - in process]
A highly efficient silver niobium alumina catalyst for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by n-decane.
Petitto C, Mutin HP, Delahay G.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2011 Sep 20;47(38):10728-30. Epub 2011 Aug 24.
PMID:
21869952
[PubMed - in process]
A study of phase separated Ni(66)Nb(17)Y(17) metallic glass using atom probe tomography.
Shariq A, Mattern N.
Ultramicroscopy. 2011 Jul;111(8):1370-4. Epub 2011 May 18.
PMID:
21864779
[PubMed - in process]
Z-Selective, Catalytic Internal Alkyne Semihydrogenation under H(2)/CO Mixtures by a Niobium(III) Imido Complex.
Gianetti TL, Tomson NC, Arnold J, Bergman RG.
J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Sep 28;133(38):14904-7. Epub 2011 Aug 31.
PMID:
21854008
[PubMed - in process]
Highly aligned carbon nanotube forests coated by superconducting NbC.
Zou GF, Luo HM, Baily S, Zhang YY, Haberkorn NF, Xiong J, Bauer E, McCleskey TM, Burrell AK, Civale L, Zhu YT, Macmanus-Driscoll JL, Jia QX.
Nat Commun. 2011 Aug 16;2:428. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1438.
PMID:
21847102
[PubMed - in process]
Anisotropy of extinction: extrapolation to the kinematical limit by ?-ray diffraction.
Jauch W, Reehuis M.
Acta Crystallogr A. 2011 Sep;67(Pt 5):469-72. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
PMID:
21844651
[PubMed - in process]
Tri-µ-oxido-bis-[(5,10,15,20-tetra-phenyl-porphyrinato-?N)niobium(V)].
Soury R, Belkhiria MS, Daran JC, Nasri H.
Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online. 2011 Jul 1;67(Pt 7):m862-3. Epub 2011 Jun 4.
PMID:
21836860
[PubMed - in process]
Assessing the performance and longevity of Nb, Pt, Ta, Ti, Zr, and ZrO2-sputtered Havar foils for the high-power production of reactive [¹8F]F? by proton irradiation of [¹8O]H2O.
Gagnon K, Wilson JS, Sant E, Backhouse CJ, McQuarrie SA.
Appl Radiat Isot. 2011 Oct;69(10):1330-6. Epub 2011 Feb 25.
PMID:
21782460
[PubMed - in process]
NbN and NbS2 nanobelt arrays: in-situ conversion preparation and field-emission performance.
Tao Y, Gao Q, Wang X, Wu X, Mao C, Zhu J.
J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Apr;11(4):3345-9.
PMID:
21776707
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
SrNbO2N as a water-splitting photoanode with a wide visible-light absorption band.
Maeda K, Higashi M, Siritanaratkul B, Abe R, Domen K.
J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Aug 17;133(32):12334-7. Epub 2011 Jul 26.
PMID:
21770436
[PubMed - in process]
Oxygen-containing gas-phase diatomic trications and tetracations: ReO(z+), NbO(z+) and HfO(z+) (z = 3, 4).
Brites V, Franzreb K, Harvey JN, Sayres SG, Ross MW, Blumling DE, Castleman AW, Hochlaf M.
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2011 Sep 7;13(33):15233-43. Epub 2011 Jul 15.
PMID:
21761073
[PubMed - in process]
Li(2)Ca(1.5)Nb(3)O(10) from X-ray powder data.
Zhu BC, Tang KB.
Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online. 2011 Apr 1;67(Pt 4):i25. Epub 2011 Mar 12.
PMID:
21753922
[PubMed]
Novel borothermal process for the synthesis of nanocrystalline oxides and borides of niobium.
Jha M, Ramanujachary KV, Lofland SE, Gupta G, Ganguli AK.
Dalton Trans. 2011 Aug 21;40(31):7879-88. Epub 2011 Jul 8.
PMID:
21743887
[PubMed - in process]
Tuning of superconducting niobium nitride terahertz metamaterials.
Wu J, Jin B, Xue Y, Zhang C, Dai H, Zhang L, Cao C, Kang L, Xu W, Chen J, Wu P.
Opt Express. 2011 Jun 20;19(13):12021-6. doi: 10.1364/OE.19.012021.
PMID:
21716437
[PubMed - in process]
Light-induced spin-crossover magnet.
Ohkoshi S, Imoto K, Tsunobuchi Y, Takano S, Tokoro H.
Nat Chem. 2011 Jun 5;3(7):564-9. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1067.
PMID:
21697879
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] |
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