Chemical Properties
Rhodium, together with platinum, palladium,
iridium, ruthenium, and osmium, is one of the platinum-
group metals in Group VIII of the Periodic Table. Rhodium
metal is a white, hard, ductile, malleable solid with a
bluish-gray luster.
Uses
Rhodium(IV) oxide has metal anode applications. It has application for the prediction of drug transport properties.
Potential Exposure
Rhodium has few applications by
itself, as in rhodium plating of white gold jewelry or plat-
ing of electrical parts, such as commutator slip rings, but,
mainly, rhodium is used as a component of platinum alloys.
Rhodium-containing catalysts have been proposed for use
in automotive catalytic converters for exhaust gas cleanup.
Shipping
Flammable powder, Hazard Class: 4.1; Labels:
4.1-Flammable solid.
Incompatibilities
Flammable as a dust, fume, or powder
may form explosive mixture with air. Incompatible with
strong oxidizers (chlorates, nitrates, peroxides, permanga-
nates, perchlorates, chlorine, bromine, fluorine, etc.); con-
tact may cause fires or explosions. Keep away from
alkaline materials, strong bases, strong acids, oxoacids,
epoxides, bromine pentafluoride, and bromine trifluoride;
chlorine trifluoride; oxygen difluoride.
Waste Disposal
Recovery in view of the high
economic value. Recovery techniques for recycling of
rhodium in plating wastes and spent catalysts have been
described in the literature.
