American Elements: Gadolinium Supplier & Technical Information

Gadolinium information, including safety data and its 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.

Gadolinium is utilized for both its high magnetic moment (7.94µB) and in phosphors and scintillator material. When complexed with EDTA ligands, it is used as an injectable contrast agent for patients undergoing magnetic resonance imaging. Gadolinium 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. With its high magnetic moment, gadolinium can reduce relaxation times and thereby enhance signal intensity. The extra stable half-full 4f electron shell with no low lying energy levels creates applications as an inert phosphor host. Gadolinium can therefore act as hosts for x-ray cassettes and in scintillator materials for computer tomography.

Gadolinium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

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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. 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. Gadolinium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Gadolinium is a Block F, Group 3, Period 6 element. The electronic configuration is [Xe]4f⁷5d¹6s². In its elemental form gadolinium's CAS number is 7440-54-2. The gadolinium atom has a radius of 178.7.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is unknown.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Gadolinium 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.

Gadolinium was first discovered by Jean de Marignac in 1880.

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

Isotope	Atomic Mass	% Abundance on Earth
Gd-152	151.920	0.20
Gd-154	153.921	2.18
Gd-155	154.923	14.80
Gd-156	155.922	20.47
Gd-157	156.924	15.65
Gd-158	157.924	24.84
Gd-160	159.927	21.86

Gadolinium Safety Data. The safety data for Gadolinium 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.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for Gadolinium (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:

1^st Ionization Energy	593.40 kJ mol^-1
2nd Ionization Energy	1166.52 kJ mol^-1
3rd Ionization Energy	1990.51 kJ mol^-1

Conductivity. As to Gadolinium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured in terms of electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 140.5 µOcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.2-. The thermal conductivity of Gadolinium is 10.6 W m^-1 K^-1.

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

Heat of Fusion	15.5 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Vaporization	301 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Atomization	398.94 kJ mol^-1

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