Isotopes of nickel

Isotope data
nickel symbol icon

Nickel isotopes are used for the production of several radioisotopes. Ni-64 is used for the production of Cu-64 which is used in radioimmunotherapy. Ni-61 can be used for the production of the PET radioisotope Cu-61. Ni-62 is used for the production of the radioisotope Ni-63 which can be used as an XRF source, as an electron capture source in gas chromatographs and as a power source in microelectromechanical systems. Ni-58 can be used for the production of the radioisotope Co-58. Ni-60 is used for the production of Co-57 which is used in bone densitometry and as a gamma camera reference source. Ni-60 is also used as an alternative for the production of Cu-61, but the route via Ni-61 is more common. Finally, most stable Nickel isotopes have been used to study human absorption of Nickel. Nickel isotopes can be obtained from Trace Sciences International.

Naturally occurring isotopes

This table shows information about naturally occuring isotopes, their atomic masses, their natural abundances, their nuclear spins, and their magnetic moments. Further data for radioisotopes (radioactive isotopes) of nickel are listed (including any which occur naturally) below.
Isotope Atomic mass (ma/u) Natural abundance (atom %) Nuclear spin (I) Magnetic moment (μ/μN)
58Ni 57.9353462 (16) 68.0769 (89) 0
60Ni 59.9307884 (16) 26.2231 (77) 0
61Ni 60.9310579 (16) 1.1399 (6) 3/2 -0.75002
62Ni 61.9283461 (16) 3.6345 (17) 0
64Ni 63.9279679 (17) 0.9256 (9) 0

Isotopic abundances of Ni
In the above picture, the most intense ion is set to 100% since this corresponds best to the output from a mass spectrometer. This is not to be confused with the relative percentage isotope abundances which total 100% for all the naturally occurring isotopes.

Radiosotope data

Further data for naturally occuring isotopes of nickel are listed above. This table gives information about some radiosotopes of nickel, their masses, their half-lives, their modes of decay, their nuclear spins, and their nuclear magnetic moments.
Isotope Mass Half-life Mode of decay Nuclear spin Nuclear magnetic moment
56Ni 55.94214 6.08 d EC to 56Co 0
57Ni 56.939800 35.6 h EC to 57Co 3/2 0.88
59Ni 58.934351 76000 y EC to 59Co 3/2
63Ni 62.929673 100 y β- to 63Cu 1/2
65Ni 64.930088 2.517 h β- to 65Cu 5/2 0.69
66Ni 65.92912 54.6 h β- to 66Cu 0

Sheffield ChemPuter isotope pattern calculator

You can use WebElements to calculate an isotope pattern for an arbitrary chemical formula:

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References

  1. Naturally occurring isotope abundances: Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances report for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Isotopic Compositions of the Elements 1989, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1998, 70, 217. [Copyright 1998 IUPAC]
  2. Masses, nuclear spins, and magnetic moments: I. Mills, T. Cvitas, K. Homann, N. Kallay, and K. Kuchitsu in Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, 1988. [Copyright 1988 IUPAC]
  3. For further information about radioisotopes see Jonghwa Chang's (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) Table of the Nuclides

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nickel atomic number