Antimony, 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. 

Antimony is finding use in semiconductor technology for making infrared detectors, diodes and Hall-effect devices in crystalline structures, such as antimony telluride and gallium antimonide . Antimony is however a poor conductor of heat and electricity. It greatly increases the hardness and mechanical strength of lead. This has found applications in batteries, antifriction alloys, small arms and tracer bullets and cable sheathing. Antimony compounds are used in manufacturing flame-proofing compounds, paints, ceramic enamels, glass, and pottery glazes. Antimony is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder.

 Antimony 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. The chemical state of antimony affects the toxicity of the element and its compounds. Antimony toxicity makes it immediately dangerous to life or health at 50 mg m-3 or above. 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. Antimony is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries. 

Antimony is a Block P, Group 15, Period 5 element. The number of electrons in each of Antimony‘s shells is 2, 8, 18, 18, 5 and its electronic configuration is [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p3. In its elemental form antimony‘s CAS number is 7440-36-0. The antimony atom has a radius of 145.pm and it‘s Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. 

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 Antimony 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. 

The most common source of Antimony is sulfide stibnite (Sb2S3), although it is sometimes found natively. See Antimony research below. Antimony was first discovered by Early Man.

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

Isotope	Atomic Mass	% Abundance on Earth
Sb-121	120.903818	57.36
Sb-123	122.904216	42.64

The following table shows the abundance of Antimony 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	0.4 ppb
by Atom	no data	0.004 ppb

Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for antimony 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. Antimony compounds have no biological role. 

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for antimony (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	830.59 kJ mol-1
2nd Ionization Energy	1594.96 kJ mol-1
3rd Ionization Energy	2441.10 kJ mol-1

Conductivity. As to antimony‘s electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ?C is 39 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 2.05. The thermal conductivity of antimony is 24.3 W m-1 K-1. 

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

Heat of Fusion	20.9 kJ mol-1
Heat of Vaporization	165.8 kJ mol-1
Heat of Atomization	262.04 kJ mol-1