KNO3
Potassium nitrate · Saltpeter, Niter
Potassium nitrate is a stable, insulating crystalline salt widely used for its oxidizing properties in industrial and energetic applications.
About Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a robust, thermodynamically stable inorganic compound that exists as a wide-band-gap insulator. Its structural versatility is highlighted by a vast array of reported crystalline forms, reflecting its importance in both natural mineralogy and synthetic chemistry.
Because of its stability and chemical reactivity, it serves as a foundational material in various industrial and energetic applications. It remains a highly studied subject in materials science due to its well-defined phase behavior and long-standing utility in chemical synthesis.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Potassium nitrate, aggregated across 3 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Applications
Where Potassium nitrate is used.
Patent Landscape
1 patent reference KNO3 or close compositional variants.
| Patent | Title | Assignee | Granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8871170 | Polyhalite IMI process for KNO3 production | — | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Potassium nitrate, answered from cross-validated data.
What is KNO3?
Potassium nitrate is a stable, insulating crystalline salt widely used for its oxidizing properties in industrial and energetic applications.
What is KNO3 used for?
What is the band gap of KNO3?
Is KNO3 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is KNO3 thermodynamically stable?
How many polymorphs of KNO3 are known?
What elements does KNO3 contain?
Where does the data for KNO3 come from?
How It Compares
As a prominent and widely recognized inorganic nitrate, this compound serves as a benchmark for the class, representing a stable and highly accessible material that bridges the gap between traditional mineralogy and modern chemical manufacturing.
Data sources & attribution
- latticegraph — Lattice Graph Materials Intelligence Platform
Analyze KNO3 in the Lattice Graph platform
Polymorph comparison, confidence scoring, supply-chain risk, and patent monitoring — across 53 integrated data sources.
Explore the Platform →