Vanadium nitride, VN, is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

. Vanadium nitride is formed during the

nitriding Nitriding is a heat treating process that diffuses nitrogen into the surface of a metal to create a case-hardened surface. These processes are most commonly used on low-alloy steels. They are also used on titanium, aluminium and molybdenum. Ty ...

of steel and increases wear resistance. Another phase, V₂N, also referred to as vanadium nitride, can be formed along with VN during nitriding. VN has a cubic, rock-salt structure. There is also a low-temperature form, which contains V₄ clusters. The low-temperature phase results from a dynamic instability, when the energy of vibrational modes in the high-temperature NaCl-structure phase, are reduced below zero. It is a strong-coupled superconductor. Nanocrystalline vanadium nitride has been claimed to have potential for use in

supercapacitors A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and Rechargeable ba ...

. The properties of vanadium nitride depend sensitively on the stoichiometry of the material.

References

Vanadium(III) compounds Nitrides Rock salt crystal structure {{inorganic-compound-stub