Platinum (Pt)

Stable isotopes of platinum available from ISOFLEX

Request a Quote

Platinum was discovered in 1735 by Antonio de Ulloa. Its name derives from the Spanish word platina, meaning “silver.”

Platinum is a silvery white, ductile, lustrous metal with face-centered cubic crystals. When heated, platinum absorbs large volumes of hydrogen. It is also a strong complexing agent. It has a vapor pressure of 0.00014 torr at its melting point. It has a magnetic susceptibility of 9.0 x 10^-6 cm³/g. As a catalyst it is abnormally sensitive to poisons. It is insoluble in mineral and organic acids, and soluble in aqua regia. It is attacked by fused alkalis. It does not corrode or tarnish. At ordinary temperatures platinum is inert to practically all substances except aqua regia and, to a small extent, chlorine water. It reacts with oxygen only at elevated temperatures. Finely divided metal forms platinum oxide at about 500 ºC. Fused alkalis, particularly potassium and barium hydroxides, are corrosive to platinum. Platinum can be alloyed with many elements at elevated temperatures.

Platinum metal and its alloys have numerous applications. It is used extensively as a precious metal in the manufacture of jewelry. Other important applications include construction of laboratory crucibles and high-temperature electric furnaces, in instruments as thermocouple elements, as wire for electrical contacts, as electrodes, in dentistry, in cigarette lighters, and for coating missile and jet engine parts. Platinum is also used extensively as a catalyst in hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, oxidation, isomerization, carbonylation and hydrocracking. It is also used in organic synthesis and petroleum refining. An important application is in the catalytic oxidation of ammonia in Ostwald’s process in the manufacture of nitric acid. Platinum is installed in the catalytic converters in automobile engines for pollution control.

Properties of Platinum