Catalyst of the week - Nickel

We live among a lot of products utilizing Catalysts - even for the food we eat. One of the most obvious applications of catalysis is the hydrogenation (reaction with hydrogen gas) of fats using nickel catalyst to produce margarine.

So hereby introducing the Catalyst of the week - Nickel

General properties
Name, symbol, number
nickel, Ni, 28
Element category
transition metal
Group, period, block
10, 4, d
Standard atomic weight
58.6934(2) g·mol−1
Electron configuration
[Ar] 4s1 3d9
Electrons per shell
2, 8, 17, 1 (Image)
Physical properties
Phase
solid
Density (near r.t.)
8.908 g·cm−3
Liquid density at m.p.
7.81 g·cm−3
Melting point
1728 K, 1453 °C, 2651 °F
Boiling point
3186 K, 2732 °C, 5275 °F
Heat of fusion
17.48 kJ·mol−1
Heat of vaporization
377.5 kJ·mol−1
Specific heat capacity
(25 °C) 26.07 J·mol−1·K−1
Vapor pressure
P/Pa
1
10
100
1 k
10 k
100 k
at T/K
1783
1950
2154
2410
2741
3184
Atomic properties
Oxidation states
4[1], 3, 2, 1 [2], -1(mildly basic oxide)
Electronegativity
1.91 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies(more)
1st: 737.1 kJ·mol−1
2nd: 1753.0 kJ·mol−1
3rd: 3395 kJ·mol−1
Atomic radius
124 pm
Covalent radius
124±4 pm
Van der Waals radius
163 pm
Miscellanea
Crystal structure
face-centered cubic
Magnetic ordering
ferromagnetic
Electrical resistivity
(20 °C) 69.3 nΩ·m
Thermal conductivity
(300 K) 90.9 W·m−1·K−1
Thermal expansion
(25 °C) 13.4 µm·m−1·K−1
Speed of sound (thin rod)
(r.t.) 4900 m·s−1
Young's modulus
200 GPa
Shear modulus
76 GPa
Bulk modulus
180 GPa
Poisson ratio
0.31
Mohs hardness
4.0
Vickers hardness
638 MPa
Brinell hardness
700 MPa
CAS registry number
7440-02-0
Most stable isotopes
Main article: Isotopes of nickel
iso
NA
half-life
DM
DE (MeV)
DP
56Ni
syn
6.075 d
ε
-
56Co
γ
0.158, 0.811
-
58Ni
68.077%
58Ni is stable with 30 neutrons
59Ni
trace
76000 y
ε
-
59Co
60Ni
26.233%
60Ni is stable with 32 neutrons
61Ni
1.14%
61Ni is stable with 33 neutrons
62Ni
3.634%
62Ni is stable with 34 neutrons
63Ni
syn
100.1 y
β−
0.0669
63Cu
64Ni
0.926%
64Ni is stable with 36 neutrons