Vanadium nitride, VN, is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 of vanadium

Vanadium

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...

 and nitrogen

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...

.

Vanadium nitride is formed during the nitriding

Nitridization

Nitriding is a heat treating process that diffuses nitrogen into the surface of a metal to create a case hardened surface. It is predominantly used on steel, but also titanium, aluminum and molybdenum....

 of steel and increases wear resistance. Another phase, V₂N, also referred to as vanadium nitride, can be formed along with VN during nitriding. VN has a cubic, rock salt structure. There is also a low temperature form which contains V₄ clusters.

It is a strong-coupled superconductor. Nanocrystalline vanadium nitride has been claimed to have potential for use in supercapacitors.