Vanadinite – the most important vanadium source

Vanadinite

  • Named for its vanadium content
  • Vanadinite is the most important source of vanadium and finds application as V2O5 in the famous contact process (production of sulfuric acid) and in alloys for chromium-vanadium steel (typically the content is below 0.2 %)
  • Formula: Pb5(VO4)3Cl
  • Space group: P63/(No. 176)
  • Crystal system: hexagonal
  • Crystal class: 6/m
  • Lattice parameters: a = b = 10.299(2) Å, c = 7.308(1) Å, α = β = 90°, γ = 120°

Picture: Didier Descouens – CC BY-SA 4.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12436369


Crystal structure (click on the picture to download the VESTA file):

(K. Momma and F. Izumi, “VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data,”J. Appl. Crystallogr., 44, 1272-1276 (2011).)

  • PbO9 irregular polyhedra (black)
  • PbO7 capped trigonal prisms (blue)
  • VO4 tetrahedra (purple)
  • Oxygen (red)
  • Chlorine (green)

For a 3D interactive version on sketchfab, see here:

https://skfb.ly/6PT8q

Reference:
Crystal structure of vanadinite: refinement of anisotropic displacement parameters
F. Laufek et al.
J. Czech Geol. Soc. 2006, 51, 271-275

DOI: 10.3190/JCGS.999

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