Vanadium nitride VN

spore: profile
id: vanadium-nitride
spore_version: 0.2
family: carbide-nitride-boride-ceramics
name: Vanadium nitride
abbreviation: VN
role: Hard rock-salt nitride ceramic, used as a hard coating and as a supercapacitor electrode material
category: ceramics
type: nitrides
summary: |
  Vanadium nitride (VN) is a rock-salt nitride with a cubic Fm-3m structure. A first-principles study in arXiv:2003.00036 calculates a bulk modulus of 315 GPa, a shear modulus of 156 GPa and a Young's modulus of 401 GPa for rock-salt VN at 0 GPa. The same paper quotes an experimental hardness of 13 GPa for bulk rock-salt VN from earlier work. Supplier pages list a density of 6.13 g/cm3 and a melting point range of 2050 to 2360 °C, the latter described by the supplier as theoretical data. A 2018 hybrid VN/carbon membrane electrode reached 392.0 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 6.0 M KOH, but that is a composite, not pure VN.
best_for: Hard, wear-resistant coatings and research electrodes where high stiffness and a very high melting range matter
weakest_at: Oxidation in air at high temperature (no oxidation onset for pure VN powder was read in a source in this run), and little flight or radiation data
identity:
  formula: VN
  cas: 24646-85-3
  crystal_system: cubic
  space_group: Fm-3m
  source: pubchem-vn-properties
  where: Formula NV and title Vanadium nitride (VN) on PubChem CID 90570 property record; cubic Fm-3m structure from arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2 (row Fm3̄m-VN); CAS number as printed on the Goodfellow and Stanford Advanced Materials product pages
tags:
  applications:
    - mechanisms
    - batteries
properties:
  - benchmark: density
    value: 6.13
    unit: g/cm3
    scope: material
    conditions:
      form: powder, Goodfellow product 1000215320
      temperature: not stated on the page
    method: Density printed in the product's physical properties table (no test method given)
    status: ground
    source: goodfellow-vn
    where: Physical properties, Density (g cm-3) row
  - benchmark: melting_point
    value: 2050
    value_high: 2360
    bound: range
    unit: °C
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: range printed as 2050-2360 ℃ on the supplier page; the page footnote says the product information is based on theoretical data
    method: Supplier specification table; no measurement method given
    status: calculated
    note: Vendor figure described as theoretical data, not a measured melting point.
    source: sam-vn
    where: Properties and specifications table, Melting Point row
  - benchmark: purity
    value: 99.9
    bound: lower
    unit: '%'
    scope: material
    conditions:
      form: powder, Stanford Advanced Materials catalog VM2079
    method: Vendor specification; no analysis method given
    status: ground
    note: A product specification, not a material property of VN in general.
    source: sam-vn
    where: Properties and specifications table, Purity row
  - benchmark: bulk_modulus
    label: Bulk modulus, rock-salt VN (calculated)
    value: 315
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, this work
    method: First-principles calculation at 0 GPa, reported in arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2
    status: calculated
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: 'Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, B column (table caption: B, G and E in GPa)'
  - benchmark: shear_modulus
    label: Shear modulus, rock-salt VN (calculated)
    value: 156
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, this work
    method: First-principles calculation at 0 GPa, reported in arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2
    status: calculated
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, G column
  - benchmark: elastic_modulus
    label: Young's modulus, rock-salt VN (calculated)
    value: 401
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, this work
    method: First-principles calculation at 0 GPa, reported in arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2
    status: calculated
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, E column
  - benchmark: poissons_ratio
    value: 0.29
    unit: '-'
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, this work
    method: First-principles calculation at 0 GPa, reported in arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2
    status: calculated
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, Poisson ratio column
  - benchmark: hardness
    label: Hardness of bulk rock-salt VN (experimental, quoted)
    value: 13
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: experimental hardness of bulk Fm3̄m-VN as quoted in the paper's introduction; test method and load not stated
    method: Value quoted from earlier experiments (Toth 2014; Pierson 1996) in arXiv:2003.00036
    status: ground
    note: Non-canonical name; quoted, not measured by the authors of the 2020 paper.
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Introduction, sentence beginning 'the hardness of bulk Fm3̄m-VN (13 GPa)'
  - benchmark: vickers_hardness
    label: Vickers hardness, rock-salt VN (model, Mazhnik)
    value: 20.3
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, Mazhnik model
    method: Empirical hardness model applied to first-principles elastic data (Mazhnik and Oganov 2019 model, as used in arXiv:2003.00036)
    status: calculated
    note: A model value, not a measured hardness.
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, Hv (Mazhnik model) column
  - benchmark: volume_per_atom
    label: Volume per atom, rock-salt VN (calculated)
    value: 8.77
    unit: Å3/atom
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: 0 GPa, rock-salt (Fm-3m) VN, this work
    method: First-principles calculation at 0 GPa, reported in arXiv:2003.00036 Table 2 (V0 column)
    status: calculated
    source: arxiv-2003-00036
    where: Table 2, row Fm3̄m-VN, V0 column
  - benchmark: specific_capacitance
    label: Specific capacitance of a VN/carbon membrane electrode (composite)
    value: 392
    unit: F/g
    scope: material
    conditions:
      material: hierarchical porous VN/carbon membrane (composite, not pure VN)
      current_density: 0.5 A g-1
      electrolyte: 6.0 M KOH
    method: Electrochemical measurement reported by the authors (Wu et al. 2018)
    status: ground
    note: Non-canonical name; a composite electrode value, not a property of pure VN.
    source: wu2018-vn-carbon
    where: Conclusion, first sentence
  - benchmark: cycle_retention
    label: Capacitance retention of a VN/carbon membrane electrode after cycling (composite)
    value: 83.5
    unit: '%'
    scope: material
    conditions:
      material: hierarchical porous VN/carbon membrane (composite, not pure VN)
      current_density: 2 A g-1
      cycles: 5000
      electrolyte: 6 M KOH
    method: Galvanostatic cycling reported in the Results section (Wu et al. 2018)
    status: ground
    note: Non-canonical name; composite electrode value.
    source: wu2018-vn-carbon
    where: Results, cycling stability paragraph
corrosion:
  - environment: Oxygen on the VN(111) surface at 295, 363, 873 and 1023 K (computer simulation)
    headline: A 2025 simulation finds that oxygen forms vanadium oxide clusters on the VN surface and does not penetrate the bulk.
    effect: Ab initio molecular dynamics of oxygen on VN(111) at several temperatures shows VOx clusters forming at the surface and no significant migration of oxygen into the bulk. The authors also say VN is less oxidized than ZrN at ambient conditions. No oxidation temperature or weight-gain data for pure VN are given in the abstract.
    rating: low
    conditions:
      method: ab initio molecular dynamics (aiMD) on the VN(111) surface
      temperatures: 295, 363, 873 and 1023 K (simulated)
      exposure: simulated oxygen, not measured in air
    source: liu2025-surface-oxidation
    where: Abstract
risks:
  hazards:
    - text: PubChem aggregates GHS notices for vanadium nitride (CID 90570) from 211 company reports. H302 (harmful if swallowed), H312 (harmful in contact with skin) and H332 (harmful if inhaled) are each reported in 99.5% of reports that give hazard codes, and 1 of 211 reports (0.5%) does not meet GHS hazard criteria.
      ghs:
        - 'H302 (99.5%): Harmful if swallowed'
        - 'H312 (99.5%): Harmful in contact with skin'
        - 'H332 (99.5%): Harmful if inhaled'
      source: pubchem-vn
      where: Safety and Hazards, GHS Classification (CID 90570 record)
  failure_risks: []
  side_effects: []
  handling:
    - text: Goodfellow's product page warns that shipping restrictions and charges may apply for some hazardous materials and links a US safety data sheet, which was not read in this run.
      source: goodfellow-vn
      where: Product page, shipping and safety data sheet text
  mitigations: []
uses:
  - application: batteries
    device: Supercapacitor electrode (research, composite membrane)
    example: A hierarchical porous VN/carbon membrane electrode showed a specific capacitance of 392.0 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1 in 6.0 M KOH, and the authors report 83.5% cycling stability at 2 A g-1 after 5000 cycles.
    source: wu2018-vn-carbon
    where: Abstract; Conclusion; Results
  - application: mechanisms
    device: Hard, wear-resistant coating powder (vendor description, no test data)
    example: The supplier describes the powder as having high hardness and excellent wear resistance; the page gives no test values for those claims.
    source: sam-vn
    where: Product description
supply:
  - subject: Vanadium (the metal in VN; nitrogen is not covered by these sources)
    producers:
      - country: China
        share_percent: 74.5
        year: 2025
      - country: Russia
        share_percent: 19.1
        year: 2025
      - country: Brazil
        share_percent: 4.8
        year: 2025
      - country: South Africa
        share_percent: 4.5
        year: 2025
    critical_lists: []
    recycling: 'USGS: recycling of vanadium is mainly associated with reprocessing vanadium catalysts into new catalysts.'
    substitutes:
      - 'USGS: steels with other alloying elements can be substituted for vanadium steels; no acceptable substitute for vanadium is available for use in aerospace titanium alloys.'
    source: usgs-mcs2026-vanadium
    where: World Mine Production and Reserves table, 2025e (China 82,000 t, Russia 21,000 t, Brazil 5,300 t, South Africa 5,000 t, world total 110,000 t rounded; shares calculated by Space Mushroom against that total); Recycling; Substitutes
gaps:
  - No flight, vacuum, radiation or thermal-vacuum result for VN was read in this run; no space application source was found.
  - Oxidation onset or weight-gain data for pure VN in air were not read in a fetched page. The Journal of Materiomics film study (García-Wong et al.) and its thesis were blocked to automated access.
  - Springer (J. Materials Science, DOI 10.1007/s10853-021-06393-0) and Springer (Met. Mater. Trans. A, 10.1007/s11661-023-07177-8) redirected to a login page; their hardness values were not read and are not used.
  - Thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of pure VN were not found in a fetched page.
  - Lattice constant of rock-salt VN not printed in the fetched text (Table S1 of arXiv:2003.00036 is supplementary and not included).
  - Density is a supplier figure with no temperature or method printed; no measured bulk density from a paper was read.
  - Melting point is a supplier range described as theoretical data; no measured melting point was read.
  - 'Appearance conflicts between sources: the Stanford Advanced Materials specification table says ''Black powder'', while its description says ''silvery-gray metal powder''. Both are kept as printed; neither is used as a property.'
  - 'Steel alloying use: the USGS summary covers vanadium as a steel alloying element in general and does not name VN, so no VN-specific steel additive use is recorded.'
  - Critical-mineral list status for vanadium (USGS 2025 list and EU list) was not read in this run; critical_lists is left empty.
  - Atomic weights of vanadium and nitrogen were not read in a fetched page, so the recipe parts have no atomic_weight.
  - Nitrogen supply and abundance are not sourced; supply covers the vanadium component only.
  - No UNS, EN or other standard designation for VN was printed on a fetched page, so identity.designations is left out.
  - 'Non-canonical property names used: hardness, purity, specific_capacitance, cycle_retention, volume_per_atom.'
  - Only one hardness value is experimental (quoted) and it is a bulk rock-salt value without a stated test method. The Mazhnik 20.3 GPa value is a model value.
sources:
  pubchem-vn:
    title: PubChem compound record CID 90570, Vanadium nitride (VN), GHS classification and safety sections
    id: CID 90570; molecular formula NV
    url: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug_view/data/compound/90570/JSON
    year: 2026
    kind: database
    license: public domain (NCBI)
  usgs-mcs2026-vanadium:
    title: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Vanadium
    id: USGS MCS 2026, February 2026
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-vanadium.pdf
    year: 2026
    kind: report
    license: public domain (USGS)
  goodfellow-vn:
    title: 'Goodfellow product page: Vanadium Nitride Powder (VN) - W 25g, SKU 1000215320'
    id: Goodfellow SKU 1000215320; CAS 24646-85-3
    url: https://www.goodfellow.com/usa/vanadium-nitride-powder-1000215320
    year: 2026
    kind: datasheet
    license: supplier web page (cited, not reproduced)
  sam-vn:
    title: 'Stanford Advanced Materials product page: VM2079 Vanadium Nitride Powder VN (CAS No. 24646-85-3)'
    id: Catalog VM2079; CAS 24646-85-3
    url: https://samaterials.com/vanadium/2079-vanadium-nitride-powder.html
    year: 2026
    kind: datasheet
    license: supplier web page (cited, not reproduced)
  arxiv-2003-00036:
    title: 'First-principles survey of the V-N system up to 120 GPa: phase stability, elastic constants and hardness'
    id: arXiv:2003.00036
    url: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.00036
    year: 2020
    kind: paper
    license: arXiv preprint (author license as listed on arXiv)
  wu2018-vn-carbon:
    title: A Novel Hierarchical Porous 3D Structured Vanadium Nitride/Carbon Membranes for High-performance Supercapacitor (Wu et al.)
    id: Nano-Micro Letters 2018; PMC6199110
    url: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6199110
    year: 2018
    kind: paper
    license: open access (PMC; licence per article page)
  pubchem-vn-properties:
    title: PubChem computed property record CID 90570 (molecular formula NV and molecular weight)
    id: CID 90570
    url: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug/compound/cid/90570/property/MolecularWeight/JSON
    year: 2026
    kind: database
    license: public domain (NCBI)
  liu2025-surface-oxidation:
    title: Surface Oxidation of Transition Metal Nitrides (Liu, Glauber, Lorenz, Rogalla, Harms, Devi, Nolan)
    id: J. Phys. Chem. C 129(24), 11173-11182
    url: https://fis.tu-dresden.de/portal/de/publications/surface-oxidation-of-transition-metal-nitrides(919b422a-bb5f-4145-b0de-bfc607e831d6).html
    year: 2025
    kind: paper
    license: not stated on the page read; cited, not reproduced
documents:
  - title: Goodfellow product page, vanadium nitride powder, SKU 1000215320
    type: datasheet
    url: https://www.goodfellow.com/usa/vanadium-nitride-powder-1000215320
    year: 2026
  - title: Stanford Advanced Materials product page, VM2079 vanadium nitride powder
    type: datasheet
    url: https://samaterials.com/vanadium/2079-vanadium-nitride-powder.html
    year: 2026
  - title: 'PubChem: Vanadium nitride (CID 90570), GHS classification summary'
    type: database
    url: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug_view/data/compound/90570/JSON
    year: 2026
  - title: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Vanadium
    type: report
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-vanadium.pdf
    year: 2026
  - title: arXiv:2003.00036, first-principles V-N study (Table 2)
    type: paper
    url: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.00036
    year: 2020
  - title: Wu et al. 2018, VN/carbon membranes for supercapacitors (Nano-Micro Letters)
    type: paper
    url: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6199110
    year: 2018
  - title: Liu et al. 2025, Surface Oxidation of Transition Metal Nitrides (J. Phys. Chem. C)
    type: paper
    url: https://fis.tu-dresden.de/portal/de/publications/surface-oxidation-of-transition-metal-nitrides(919b422a-bb5f-4145-b0de-bfc607e831d6).html
    year: 2025
license: CC-BY-4.0
updated: '2026-11-01'
review:
  status: draft
  method: assistant
  checked_values: 12
  unreachable: 4
  caveats: 3
  note: Written by an AI assistant on 2026-11-01 from pages read in this run. Four open sources could not be read (Journal of Materiomics film oxidation study, its thesis, Springer J. Materials Science 2021 and Springer Met. Mater. Trans. A 2023). Calculated values are DFT results at 0 GPa; the melting range is a supplier figure described as theoretical.
story:
  recipe:
    line: Vanadium nitride is one vanadium atom bonded to one nitrogen atom in a rock-salt (NaCl-type) cubic lattice, written VN. The arXiv study models VN in the Fm-3m rock-salt structure. The process used to make the commercial powder is not stated on the supplier pages read.
    parts:
      - name: Vanadium
        symbol: V
        role: The metal atom. Its d-electrons bond to nitrogen and set the hardness and stiffness of the lattice.
      - name: Nitrogen
        symbol: 'N'
        role: Fills the other sub-lattice of the rock-salt structure.
  risk_groups:
    - title: For people
      level: 0
      verdict: Harmful if swallowed or inhaled (PubChem)
      lead: Most company reports to PubChem classify vanadium nitride as harmful. The supplier pages read here give no hazard statement.
      points:
        - label: The notifications
          line: PubChem records 211 company reports. H302 (harmful if swallowed), H312 (harmful in contact with skin) and H332 (harmful if inhaled) are each given in 99.5% of the reports that carry hazard codes. One report, 0.5%, does not meet GHS hazard criteria.
        - label: Shipping
          line: The Goodfellow product page warns that shipping restrictions may apply to some hazardous materials and links a safety data sheet that was not read in this run.
    - title: Handling
      points:
        - label: Dust
          line: Keep powder out of the air and off the skin. Read the supplier's safety data sheet before handling; PubChem gives no handling or storage advice for VN.
  why: Vanadium nitride (VN) is a rock-salt ceramic. It is stiff and hard, and its calculated bulk modulus is 315 GPa in the arXiv study. Its suppliers offer it as a fine powder, and research papers use it as a coating and as a supercapacitor electrode. The main open question for space and high-temperature use is how the surface behaves in air, and no oxidation onset for the pure material was read in a source in this run.
  uses:
    - where: Supercapacitor electrodes (research)
      line: A hierarchical porous VN/carbon membrane electrode gave 392.0 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 6.0 M KOH. The value is for a composite, not pure VN, and it comes from a single laboratory paper.
    - where: Hard coatings (supplier description)
      line: The supplier describes the powder as having high hardness and excellent wear resistance. The page gives no test values for those statements.
  can_do:
    - label: Stiffness
      line: a first-principles study gives a bulk modulus of 315 GPa, a shear modulus of 156 GPa and a Young's modulus of 401 GPa for rock-salt VN at 0 GPa.
    - label: Hardness
      line: an experimental hardness of 13 GPa for bulk rock-salt VN is quoted from earlier work. A model gives 20.3 GPa.
    - label: Melting
      line: the supplier range is 2050 to 2360 °C, described as theoretical data.
    - label: Charge storage
      line: a composite VN/carbon membrane reached 392.0 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 6.0 M KOH.
  compare: Vanadium nitride sits among the hard transition-metal nitrides. Its calculated stiffness is high for a ceramic, with a bulk modulus of 315 GPa and a Young's modulus of 401 GPa in the arXiv study. Its supplier melting range of 2050 to 2360 °C is described as theoretical, and no measured melting point was read. Oxidation behaviour is the weaker point of the record, because the only surface study read is a simulation, and no pure-VN oxidation onset was found.
  compare_rows:
    - label: Melting point
      benchmark: melting_point
    - label: Bulk modulus
      benchmark: bulk_modulus
    - label: Density
      benchmark: density
  handling:
    - The supplier pages read here give no handling or storage rules. Read the supplier's safety data sheet before use.
    - Some suppliers note that shipping restrictions may apply to hazardous materials.
    - PubChem notes harmful-if-swallowed, skin and inhalation hazards in most reports.
  good_for:
    - Stiff, hard coatings on research parts. The calculated bulk modulus is 315 GPa and the quoted experimental hardness is 13 GPa.
    - Research electrodes. A composite membrane reached 392.0 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 6.0 M KOH.
  watch_out:
    - Surface oxidation. The 2025 simulation shows vanadium oxide clusters forming on the surface, and no oxidation onset for pure VN was read.
    - Calculated values. The stiffness and hardness figures are first-principles or model values at 0 GPa, not measured film data.
    - Composite data. The supercapacitor figures come from a VN/carbon composite, not from pure VN.
  verdict: Vanadium nitride is a stiff, hard rock-salt ceramic with good calculated mechanical values. The record is thin on measured properties, on oxidation in air and on space exposure, so it needs a test on the actual powder or coating before use.