Vanadium(V) oxide, powder, 98%

The dominant use for vanadium(V) oxide is in the production of ferrovanadium. The oxide is heated with scrap iron and ferrosilicon, with lime added to form a calcium silicate slag. Another important use of vanadium(V) oxide is in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, an important industrial chemical. Maleic anhydride is another important industrial material, used for the manufacture of polyester resins and alkyd resins. Vanadium(V) oxide can catalyse its production from a variety of organic starting materials such as n-butane, furfural and benzene, the last of which is the usual commercial method. In a related process, phthalic anhydride, used for making plasticizers for PVC manufacture, may be produced by V2O5 catalysed oxidation of ortho-xylene or naphthalene at 350–400 °C. Due to its high coefficient of thermal resistance, vanadium(V) oxide finds use as a detector material in bolometers and microbolometer arrays for thermal imaging. It also finds application as an ethanol sensor in ppm levels (up to 0.1 ppm). Possible new uses include the preparation of bismuth vanadate ceramics for use in solid oxide fuel cells. Another new application is in vanadium redox batteries, a type of flow battery used for energy storage, including large power facilities such as wind farms.