Platinum is corrosion-resistant and particularly useful as a catalyst. It participates in vehicle exhaust treatment, industrial chemical production, and fuel cells. Jewelry provides a familiar entry point, but its catalytic roles reveal another kind of value: controlling reactions at a material's surface.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
How can platinum help a fuel cell produce current without being its fuel?
Supported platinum-containing catalyst particles
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Place catalyst at electrode interfaces
Supported platinum-containing particles provide catalytic surfaces in a proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell. The accessible material operates within the electrode rather than as a separate fuel supply.
Explore the model (optional)
PtFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Optional: check your understanding
USE THE EXPLANATION
Which component supplies the chemical energy being converted?
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D78 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Xe] 4f14 5d9 6s1. Grouping electrons by principal shell connects the neutral-atom configuration to periodic-table patterns.
What this representation means
A three-dimensional counting diagram. Dots are count markers, not measured electron positions; spherical placement and spacing are arbitrary. There are no electron trajectories here. Orbitals describe quantum states.
People on the Pacific coast of South America worked platinum-containing materials long before European chemists characterized the metal. Antonio de Ulloa encountered it in 1735, and reports later drew sustained European scientific attention. It is therefore misleading to equate European recognition with humanity's first discovery. The history includes practical metalworking knowledge, subsequent descriptions, and chemical characterization, each answering a different question about what people knew.
Around 2,000 years ago
South American metalworking
Burial goods show that people worked platinum-containing materials.
1735
Ulloa encountered platinum
His observations contributed to later European scientific discussion.
Platinum occurs as native metal in some deposits and in such as cooperite, platinum . Recovery is also associated with nickel and copper processing. Its several natural forms explain why an elemental nugget and a nanoparticle can share an element while following very different preparation histories.
Platinum resists many chemical environments but can still provide an active surface for . Resistance to bulk and catalytic activity are compatible properties. Surface structure, particle size, and neighboring materials matter, which is why jewelry metal and a dispersed fuel-cell catalyst have distinct designs and functions.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
2041 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
4098 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
21.45 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
2.28 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
870 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
136 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+2, +4
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust in mg/kg
0.005 mg/kg
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Yesderived
Discovery year
Not recorded
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 6
Pt 2.28 Pauling · Platinum
Electronegativity across period 6. Exact values.
Cs
0.79
Ba
0.89
La
1.1
Ce
1.12
Pr
1.13
Nd
1.14
Sm
1.17
Eu
1.2
Gd
1.2
Tb
1.1
Dy
1.22
Ho
1.23
Er
1.24
Tm
1.25
Yb
1.1
Lu
1.27
Hf
1.3
Ta
1.5
W
2.36
Re
1.9
Os
2.2
Ir
2.2
Pt
2.28
Au
2.54
Hg
2
Tl
1.62
Pb
2.33
Bi
2.02
Po
2
At
2.2
Electronegativity down group 10
Pt 2.28 Pauling · Platinum
Electronegativity down group 10. Exact values.
Ni
1.91
Pd
2.2
Pt
2.28
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
