Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28.

It is a silvery-
white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile
transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slow to
react with air under standard conditions because a passivation layer of nickel
oxide forms on the surface that prevents further corrosion. Even so, pure native
nickel is found in Earth's crust only in tiny amounts, usually in ultramafic rocks,
[5][6] and in the interiors of larger nickel–iron meteorites that were not exposed
to oxygen when outside Earth's atmosphere.

Meteoric nickel is found in combination with iron, a reflection of the origin of

those elements as major end products of supernova nucleosynthesis. An iron–nickel
mixture is thought to compose Earth's outer and inner cores.[7]

Use of nickel (as natural meteoric nickel–iron alloy) has been traced as far back
as 3500 BCE. Nickel was first isolated and classified as an element in 1751 by Axel
Fredrik Cronstedt, who initially mistook the ore for a copper mineral, in the
cobalt mines of Los, Hälsingland, Sweden. The element's name comes from a
mischievous sprite of German miner mythology, Nickel (similar to Old Nick). Nickel
minerals were green, like copper ores, and were known as kupfernickel - Nickel's
copper - because they produced no copper. An economically important source of
nickel is the iron ore limonite, which is often 1–2% nickel. Other important nickel
ore minerals include pentlandite and a mix of Ni-rich natural silicates known as
garnierite. Major production sites include the Sudbury region, Canada (which is
thought to be of meteoric origin), New Caledonia in the Pacific, and Norilsk,
Russia.

Nickel is one of four elements (the others are iron, cobalt, and gadolinium)[8]
that are ferromagnetic at about room temperature. Alnico permanent magnets based
partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets
and rare-earth magnets. The metal is used chiefly in alloys and corrosion-resistant
plating. About 68% of world production is used in stainless steel. A further 10% is
used for nickel-based and copper-based alloys, 9% for plating, 7% for alloy steels,
3% in foundries, and 4% in other applications such as in rechargeable batteries,[9]
including those in electric vehicles (EVs).[10] Nickel is widely used in coins,
though nickel-plated objects sometimes provoke nickel allergy. As a compound,
nickel has a number of niche chemical manufacturing uses, such as a catalyst for
hydrogenation, cathodes for rechargeable batteries, pigments and metal surface
treatments.[11] Nickel is an essential nutrient for some microorganisms and plants
that have enzymes with nickel as an active site.[12]

Properties
Atomic and physical properties

Electron micrograph of a Ni nanocrystal inside a single wall carbon nanotube; scale

bar 5 nm[13]
Nickel is a silvery-white metal with a slight golden tinge that takes a high
polish. It is one of only four elements that are ferromagnetic at or near room
temperature; the others are iron, cobalt and gadolinium. Its Curie temperature is
355 °C (671 °F), meaning that bulk nickel is non-magnetic above this temperature.
[14][8] The unit cell of nickel is a face-centered cube with the lattice parameter
of 0.352 nm, giving an atomic radius of 0.124 nm. This crystal structure is stable
to pressures of at least 70 GPa. Nickel is hard, malleable and ductile, and has a
relatively high electrical and thermal conductivity for transition metals.[15] The
high compressive strength of 34 GPa, predicted for ideal crystals, is never
obtained in the real bulk material due to formation and movement of dislocations.
However, it has been reached in Ni nanoparticles.[16]

Electron configuration dispute

Nickel has two atomic electron configurations, [Ar] 3d8 4s2 and [Ar] 3d9 4s1, which
are very close in energy; [Ar] denotes the complete argon core structure. There is
some disagreement on which configuration has the lower energy.[17] Chemistry
textbooks quote nickel's electron configuration as [Ar] 4s2 3d8,[18] also written
[Ar] 3d8 4s2.[19] This configuration agrees with the Madelung energy ordering rule,
which predicts that 4s is filled before 3d. It is supported by the experimental
fact that the lowest energy state of the nickel atom is a 3d8 4s2 energy level,
specifically the 3d8(3F) 4s2 3F, J = 4 level.[20][21]

However, each of these two configurations splits into several energy levels due to
fine structure,[20][21] and the two sets of energy levels overlap. The average
energy of states with [Ar] 3d9 4s1 is actually lower than the average energy of
states with [Ar] 3d8 4s2. Therefore, the research literature on atomic calculations
quotes the ground state configuration as [Ar] 3d9 4s1.[17]

Isotopes
Main article: Isotopes of nickel
The isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48 u (48
Ni) to 82 u (82
Ni).[4]

Natural nickel is composed of five stable isotopes, 58

Ni, 60
Ni, 61
Ni, 62
Ni and 64
Ni, of which 58
Ni is the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance).[4]

Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon of any nuclide: 8.7946
MeV/nucleon.[22][23] Its binding energy is greater than both 56
Fe and 58
Fe, more abundant nuclides often incorrectly cited as having the highest binding
energy.[24] Though this would seem to predict nickel as the most abundant heavy
element in the universe, the high rate of photodisintegration of nickel in stellar
interiors causes iron to be by far the most abundant.[24]

Nickel-60 is the daughter product of the extinct radionuclide 60

Fe (half-life 2.6 million years). Due to the long half-life of 60
Fe, its persistence in materials in the Solar System may generate observable
variations in the isotopic composition of 60
Ni. Therefore, the abundance of 60
Ni in extraterrestrial material may give insight into the origin of the Solar
System and its early history.[25]

At least 26 nickel radioisotopes have been characterized; the most stable are 59
Ni with half-life 76,000 years, 63
Ni (100 years), and 56
Ni (6 days). All other radioisotopes have half-lives less than 60 hours and most
these have half-lives less than 30 seconds. This element also has one meta state.
[4]

Radioactive nickel-56 is produced by the silicon burning process and later set free
in large amounts in type Ia supernovae. The shape of the light curve of these
supernovae at intermediate to late-times corresponds to the decay via electron
capture of 56
Ni to cobalt-56 and ultimately to iron-56.[26] Nickel-59 is a long-lived cosmogenic
radionuclide; half-life 76,000 years. 59
Ni has found many applications in isotope geology. 59
Ni has been used to date the terrestrial age of meteorites and to determine
abundances of extraterrestrial dust in ice and sediment. The half-life of nickel-78
was recently measured at 110 milliseconds, and is believed an important isotope in
supernova nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron.[27] 48Ni, discovered in
1999, is the most proton-rich heavy element isotope known. With 28 protons and 20
neutrons, 48Ni is "doubly magic", as is 78Ni with 28 protons and 50 neutrons. Both
are therefore unusually stable for nuclei with so large a proton–neutron imbalance.
[4][28]

Nickel-63 is a contaminant found in the support structure of nuclear reactors. It

is produced through neutron capture by nickel-62. Small amounts have also been
found near nuclear weapon test sites in the South Pacific.[29]