Element 28 · Transition Metal
Nickel
Nickel is the silvery metal that makes stainless steel stainless — and now powers the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles.
Element Facts
SYMBOL
Ni
ATOMIC NO.
28
ATOMIC WEIGHT
58.69
CATEGORY
Transition Metal
PERIOD
Period 4
GROUP
Group 10
Overview
Nickel is element 28, a hard silvery-white transition metal discovered by Swedish mineralogist Axel Cronstedt in 1751. About 70% of global nickel goes into stainless steel production — the 8–10% nickel content of common stainless steels is what gives them their corrosion resistance and formability. The fastest-growing nickel demand sector is EV batteries, where high-nickel cathode chemistries (NMC811, NCA) dominate premium electric vehicles. The LME nickel market famously experienced an extraordinary short squeeze in March 2022, briefly spiking to $100,000/tonne before being reset.
Our Scrap Grades for This Metal
We buy nickel through stainless steel grades, where it is the most valuable alloying element.