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Indium is a chemical element; it has symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are largely intermediate between the two. It was discovered in 1863 by Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Theodor Richter by spectroscope and named for the indigo blue line in its spectrum.
Indium is used primarily in the production of flat-panel displays as indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent and conductive coating applied to glass. It is also used in the semiconductor industry, in low-melting-point metal alloys such as solders and soft-metal high-vacuum seals. It is used in the manufacture of blue and white LED circuits, mainly to produce Indium gallium nitride p-type semiconductor substrates. It is produced exclusively as a by-product during the processing of the ores of other metals, chiefly from sphalerite and other zinc Sulfide mineral.
Indium has no biological role and its compounds are toxic when inhaled or injected into the bloodstream, although they are poorly absorbed following ingestion." Indium and compounds". app.croneri.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-09-12.Bomhard, Ernst. (2018). The toxicology of indium oxide. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology. 58. 10.1016/j.etap.2018.02.003.
The word indicum means "Indian", as the naturally based dye Indigo dye was originally exported to Europe from India.
The density of indium, 7.31 g/cm3, is also greater than gallium, but lower than thallium. Below the critical temperature, 3.41 kelvin, indium becomes a superconductor. Indium crystallizes in the body-centered tetragonal crystal system in the space group I4/ mmm (lattice parameters: a = 325 picometer, c = 495 pm): this is a slightly distorted face-centered cubic structure, where each indium atom has four neighbours at 324 pm distance and eight neighbours slightly further (336 pm).Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 252 Indium has greater solubility in liquid mercury than any other metal (more than 50 mass percent of indium at 0 °C). Indium displays a ductile Viscoplasticity response, found to be size-independent in tension and compression. However it does have a size effect in bending and indentation, associated to a length-scale of order 50–100 μm, significantly large when compared with other metals.
The stablest artificial isotope is indium-111, with a half-life of approximately 2.8 days. All other isotopes have half-lives shorter than 5 hours. Indium also has 47 meta states, among which indium-114m1 (half-life about 49.51 days) is the most stable, more stable than the ground state of any indium isotope other than the primordial. All decay by isomeric transition. The indium isotopes lighter than 113In predominantly decay through electron capture or positron emission to form cadmium isotopes, while the indium isotopes heavier than 113In predominantly decay through beta-minus decay to form tin isotopes.
A number of standard electrode potentials, depending on the reaction under study, are reported for indium, reflecting the decreased stability of the +3 oxidation state:
| E0 = −0.40 V |
| E0 = −0.49 V |
| E0 = −0.443 V |
| E0 = −0.3382 V |
| E0 = −0.14 V |
Indium metal does not react with water, but it is oxidized by stronger oxidizing agents such as to give indium(III) compounds. It does not form a boride, silicide, or carbide. Indium is rather basic in aqueous solution, showing only slight amphoteric characteristics, and unlike its lighter homologs aluminium and gallium, it is insoluble in aqueous alkaline solutions.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 255
Chlorination, bromination, and iodination of In produce colorless InCl3, InBr3, and yellow InI3. The compounds are , somewhat akin to the better known aluminium trihalides. Again like the related aluminium compound, InF3 is polymeric.Greenwood and Earnshaw, pp. 263–7
Indium halides dissolves in water to give aquo complexes such as Ir(H2O)63+ and IrCl2(H2O)4+. Similar complexes can be prepared from nitrates and acetates. Overall, the pattern is similar to that for aluminium(III).
The chemistry of indium pnictides (N, P, As, Sb) is also well known, motivated by their relevance to semiconductor technology. Direct reaction of indium metal with the For applications in microelectronics, the P, As, and Sb derivatives are made by reactions of trimethylindium:
Richter went on to isolate the metal in 1864. An ingot of was presented at the World Fair 1867. Reich and Richter later fell out when the latter claimed to be the sole discoverer.
Indium is the 68th most abundant element in Earth's crust at approximately 50 ppb. This is similar to the crustal abundance of silver, bismuth and mercury. It very rarely forms its own minerals, or occurs in elemental form. Fewer than 10 indium minerals such as roquesite (CuInS2) are known, and none occur at sufficient concentrations for economic extraction. Instead, indium is usually a trace constituent of more common ore minerals, such as sphalerite and chalcopyrite. From these, it can be extracted as a by-product during smelting. While the enrichment of indium in these deposits is high relative to its crustal abundance, it is insufficient, at current prices, to support extraction of indium as the main product.
Different estimates exist of the amounts of indium contained within the ores of other metals. However, these amounts are not extractable without mining of the host materials (see Production and availability). Thus, the availability of indium is fundamentally determined by the rate at which these ores are extracted, and not their absolute amount. This is an aspect that is often forgotten in the current debate, e.g. by the Graedel group at Yale in their criticality assessments, explaining the paradoxically low depletion times some studies cite.
Its by-product status means that indium production is constrained by the amount of sulfidic zinc (and copper) ores extracted each year. Therefore, its availability needs to be discussed in terms of supply potential. The supply potential of a by-product is defined as that amount which is economically extractable from its host materials per year under current market conditions (i.e. technology and price). Reserves and resources are not relevant for by-products, since they cannot be extracted independently from the main-products. Recent estimates put the supply potential of indium at a minimum of 1,300 t/yr from sulfidic zinc ores and 20 t/yr from sulfidic copper ores. These figures are significantly greater than current production (655 t in 2016). Thus, major future increases in the by-product production of indium will be possible without significant increases in production costs or price. The average indium price in 2016 was 240/kg, down from 705/kg in 2014.
China is a leading producer of indium (290 tonnes in 2016), followed by South Korea (195 t), Japan (70 t) and Canada (65 t). The Teck Resources refinery in Trail, British Columbia, is a large single-source indium producer, with an output of 32.5 tonnes in 2005, 41.8 tonnes in 2004 and 36.1 tonnes in 2003.
The primary consumption of indium worldwide is LCD production. Demand rose rapidly from the late 1990s to 2010 with the popularity of LCD computer monitors and television sets, which now account for 50% of indium consumption. Increased manufacturing efficiency and recycling (especially in Japan) maintain a balance between demand and supply. According to the UNEP, indium's end-of-life recycling rate is less than 1%.
Indium(III) oxide and indium tin oxide (ITO) are used as a transparent conductive coating on glass substrates in electroluminescent panels. Indium tin oxide is used as a light filter in low-pressure sodium-vapor lamps. The infrared radiation is reflected back into the lamp, which increases the temperature within the tube and improves the performance of the lamp.
Indium has many semiconductor-related applications. Some indium compounds, such as indium antimonide and indium phosphide, are with useful properties: one precursor is usually trimethylindium (TMI), which is also used as the semiconductor dopant in II–VI compound semiconductors. InAs and InSb are used for low-temperature transistors and InP for high-temperature transistors. The compound semiconductors InGaN and InGaP are used in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. Indium is used in photovoltaics as the semiconductor copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), also called CIGS solar cells, a type of second-generation thin-film solar cell. Indium is used in PNP bipolar junction transistors with germanium: when soldered at low temperature, indium does not stress the germanium.
Indium wire is used as a cryogenic seal and a thermal conductor in cryogenics and ultra-high-vacuum applications, in such manufacturing applications as that deform to fill gaps. Owing to its great plasticity and adhesion to metals, Indium sheets are sometimes used for cold-soldering in microwave circuits and waveguide joints, where direct soldering is complicated. Indium is an ingredient in the gallium–indium–tin alloy galinstan, which is liquid at room temperature and replaces mercury in some . Other alloys of indium with bismuth, cadmium, lead, and tin, which have higher but still low melting points (between 50 and 100 °C), are used in fire sprinkler systems and heat regulators.
Indium is one of many substitutes for mercury in alkaline batteries to prevent the zinc from corroding and releasing hydrogen gas. Indium is added to some dental amalgam alloys to decrease the surface tension of the mercury and allow for less mercury and easier amalgamation.
Indium's high neutron-capture cross-section for thermal neutrons makes it suitable for use in for nuclear reactors, typically in an alloy of 80% silver, 15% indium, and 5% cadmium.
In 2009, Professor Mas Subramanian and former graduate student Andrew Smith at Oregon State University discovered that indium can be combined with yttrium and manganese to form an intensely blue, non-toxic, inert, fade-resistant pigment, YInMn blue, the first new inorganic blue pigment discovered in 200 years.
Chalcogenides and pnictides
Indium derivatives of chalcogenides (O, S, Se, Te) are well developed. Indium(III) oxide, In2O3, forms when indium metal is burned in air or when the hydroxide or nitrate is heated. The analogous sesqui-chalcogenides with sulfur, selenium, and tellurium are also known.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 286
Many of these derivatives are prone to hydrolysis.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 288
Indium(I) compounds
Indium(I) compounds are not common. The chloride, bromide, and iodide are deeply colored, unlike the parent trihalides from which they are prepared. The fluoride is known only as an unstable gas.Greenwood and Earnshaw, pp. 270–1 Indium(I) oxide black powder is produced when indium(III) oxide decomposes upon heating to 700 °C.
Compounds in other oxidation states
Less frequently, indium forms compounds in oxidation state +2 and even fractional oxidation states. Usually such materials feature In–In bonding, most notably in the indium halides In2X4 and In2X62−, and various subchalcogenides such as In4Se3.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 287 Several other compounds are known to combine indium(I) and indium(III), such as InI6(InIIICl6)Cl3, InI5(InIIIBr4)2(InIIIBr6), and InIInIIIBr4.
Organoindium compounds
Organoindium compounds feature In–C bonds. Most are In(III) derivatives, but cyclopentadienylindium(I) is an exception. It was the first known organoindium(I) compound, and is polymeric, consisting of zigzag chains of alternating indium atoms and cyclopentadienyl complexes. Perhaps the best-known organoindium compound is trimethylindium, In(CH3)3, used to prepare certain semiconducting materials.
History
In 1863, German chemists Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymus Theodor Richter were testing ores from the mines around Freiberg, Saxony. They dissolved the minerals pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and sphalerite in hydrochloric acid and distilled raw zinc chloride. Reich, who was color-blind, employed Richter as an assistant for detecting the colored spectral lines. Knowing that ores from that region sometimes contain thallium, they searched for the green thallium emission spectrum lines. Instead, they found a bright blue line. Because that blue line did not match any known element, they hypothesized a new element was present in the minerals. They named the element indium, from the indigo color seen in its spectrum, after the Latin indicum, meaning 'of India'.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 244
Occurrence
Indium is created by the long-lasting (up to thousands of years) s-process (slow neutron capture) in low-to-medium-mass stars (range in mass between 0.6 and 10 ). When a silver-109 atom captures a neutron, it transmutes into silver-110, which then undergoes beta decay to become cadmium-110. Capturing further neutrons, it becomes cadmium-115, which decays to indium-115 by another beta decay. This explains why the radioactive isotope is more abundant than the stable one. The stable indium isotope, indium-113, is one of the p-nuclei, the origin of which is not fully understood; although indium-113 is known to be made directly in the s- and (rapid neutron capture), and also as the daughter of very long-lived cadmium-113, which has a half-life of about eight quadrillion years, this cannot account for all indium-113.
Production and availability
Indium is produced exclusively as a by-product during the processing of the ores of other metals. Its main source material are sulfidic zinc ores, where it is mostly hosted by sphalerite. Minor amounts are also extracted from sulfidic copper ores. During the Zinc smelting, indium accumulates in the iron-rich residues. From these, it can be extracted in different ways. It may also be recovered directly from the process solutions. Further purification is done by electrolysis.Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 247 The exact process varies with the mode of operation of the smelter.
Applications
Industrial uses
In 1924, indium was found to have a valued property of stabilizing non-ferrous metals, and that became the first significant use for the element. The first large-scale application for indium was coating bearings in high-performance aircraft engines during World War II, to protect against damage and corrosion; this is no longer a major use of the element. New uses were found in , , and electronics. In the 1950s, tiny beads of indium were used for the emitters and collectors of PNP alloy-junction transistors. In the middle and late 1980s, the development of indium phosphide and indium tin oxide thin films for liquid-crystal displays (LCD) aroused much interest. By 1992, the thin-film application had become the largest end use.
(2001). 9781402002243, Springer. ISBN 9781402002243 In nuclear engineering, the (n,n') reactions of 113In and 115In are used to determine magnitudes of neutron fluxes.
Medical applications
Radioactive indium-111 (in very small amounts) is used in nuclear medicine tests, as a radiotracer to follow the movement of labeled proteins and white blood cells to diagnose different types of infection. Indium compounds are mostly not absorbed upon ingestion and are only moderately absorbed on inhalation; they tend to be stored temporarily in the , skin, and before being excreted, and the biological half-life of indium is about two weeks in humans. (2014). 9780123973399, Academic Press. ISBN 9780123973399 It is also tagged to growth hormone analogues like octreotide to find growth hormone receptors in neuroendocrine tumors.
Biological role and precautions
Indium has no Dietary element role in any organism. According to one overview "no evidence of any health hazard from industrial use of indium." (2025). 9783527303854 ISBN 9783527303854
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