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Rhenium

Rhenium , including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity propertiesresearch, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure,ionization energyabundance on Earthconductivity and thermal properties are included.

Rhenium is the fourth densest element exceeded only by that of platinum, iridium, and osmium . It has the second highest melting point exceeded only by tungsten and carbon . Rhenium 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. Because of this, thermocouples made ofTungsten/Rhenium alloy is are used when temperatures will rise to 2000 C and rhenium wire is used in photoflash lamps for photography. It is widely used as filaments for mass spectrographs and ion gauges. Rhenium is also used as an electrical contact material because it has good wear resistance and withstands arc corrosion. Rhenium-molybdenum alloys are superconductive at 10 Kelvin. Rhenium catalysts are are used for oranic chemical hydrogenation. Rhenium is added to platinum catalysts that are used to produce lead-free gasoline. Due to its high melting point, it is in high-temperature superalloys used for aerospace and filaments for mass spectrographs.


Rhenium 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. Fluoridesare another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Rhenium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Rhenium is a Block D, Group 7, Period 6 element. The number of electrons in each of Rhodium‘s shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 13, 2 and its electronic configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d5 6s2. In its elemental form rhenium‘s CAS number is 7440-15-5. The rhenium atom has a radius of 137.1.pm and it‘s Van der Waals radius is 200.pm. The toxicity of Rhenium has not yet been established .

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 usingsputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes.Organo-Metallic Rhenium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. SeeAnalytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Rhenium was first discovered by Walter Noddack in 1925 in the Rhine region of Germany. The name Rhenium originates from the Latin word ‘Rhenus‘ meaning "Rhine" after the place of discovery.

Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of rhenium and each of its naturally occurringisotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
Isotope Atomic Mass % Abundance on Earth
Re-185 184.952956 37.40
Re-187 186.955751 62.60


The following table shows the abundance of Rhenium 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 0.2 ppb
by Atom no data 0.001 ppb


Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for rhenium metalnanoparticles 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. Rheniumcompounds have no biological role.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for rhenium (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 755.82 kJ mol-1
2nd Ionization Energy - kJ mol-1
3rd Ionization Energy - kJ mol-1


Conductivity. As to rhenium‘s electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ?C is 19.3 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.9. The thermal conductivity of rhenium is 47.9 W m-1 K-1.

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

Heat of Fusion 33.1 kJ mol-1
Heat of Vaporization 704.25 kJ mol-1
Heat of Atomization 769 kJ mol-1




Formula Atomic Number Molecular Weight Electronegativity (Pauling) Density Melting Point Boiling Point Vanderwaals radius Ionic radius Energy of first ionization
Re 75 186.23 g.mol-1 1.9 20.5 g.cm-3 at 20 °C 3170 °C 5627 °C 200.pm unknown 755.82 kJ.mol-1