Spanish-Mexican scientist Andrés Manuel del Río discovered compounds of vanadium in 1801 by analyzing a new lead-bearing mineral he called "brown lead".

Other countries produce it either from magnetite directly, flue dust of heavy oil, or as a byproduct of uranium mining.

Del Río extracted the element from a sample of Mexican "brown lead" ore, later named vanadinite.

[9] In 1831 Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovered the element in a new oxide he found while working with iron ores.

[10] On learning of Wöhler's findings, del Río began to passionately argue that his old claim be recognized, but the element kept the name vanadium.

[15] The first large-scale industrial use of vanadium was in the steel alloy chassis of the Ford Model T, inspired by French race cars.

[23] Ammonium vanadate(V) (NH4VO3) can be successively reduced with elemental zinc to obtain the different colors of vanadium in these four oxidation states.

Conversion of these oxidation states is illustrated by the reduction of a strongly acidic solution of a vanadium(V) compound with zinc dust or amalgam.

[23] Another potential vanadium battery based on VB2 uses multiple oxidation state to allow for 11 electrons to be released per VB2, giving it higher energy capacity by order of compared to Li-ion and gasoline per unit volume.

In alkaline solutions, species with 2, 3 and 4 peroxide groups are known; the last forms violet salts with the formula M3V(O2)4 nH2O (M= Li, Na, etc.

In this complex, the vanadium is 5-coordinate, distorted square pyramidal, meaning that a sixth ligand, such as pyridine, may be attached, though the association constant of this process is small.

Between 1899 and 1906, the main deposits exploited were the mines of Santa Marta de los Barros (Badajoz), Spain.

With the rising demand, much of the world's vanadium production is now sourced from vanadium-bearing magnetite found in ultramafic gabbro bodies.

[68] Vanadium metal is obtained by a multistep process that begins with roasting crushed ore with NaCl or Na2CO3 at about 850 °C to give sodium metavanadate (NaVO3).

An aqueous extract of this solid is acidified to produce "red cake", a polyvanadate salt, which is reduced with calcium metal.

[71] Purification of vanadium is possible by the crystal bar process developed by Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer in 1925.

[73] From that time on, vanadium steel was used for applications in axles, bicycle frames, crankshafts, gears, and other critical components.

[79] It has been found that a small amount, 40 to 270 ppm, of vanadium in Wootz steel significantly improved the strength of the product, and gave it the distinctive patterning.

[80] Vanadium can be used as a substitute for molybdenum in armor steel, though the alloy produced is far more brittle and prone to spalling on non-penetrating impacts.

[92] The moderate thermal neutron-capture cross-section and the short half-life of the isotopes produced by neutron capture makes vanadium a suitable material for the inner structure of a fusion reactor.

[99] Most naturally occurring organobromine compounds are produced by this enzyme,[100] catalyzing the following reaction (R-H is hydrocarbon substrate): A vanadium nitrogenase is used by some nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms, such as Azotobacter.

In this role, vanadium serves in place of the more common molybdenum or iron, and gives the nitrogenase slightly different properties.

[101] Vanadium is essential to tunicates, where it is stored in the highly acidified vacuoles of certain blood cell types, designated vanadocytes.

The concentration of vanadium in the blood of ascidian tunicates is as much as ten million times higher[specify][102][103] than the surrounding seawater, which normally contains 1 to 2 μg/L.

[104][105] The function of this vanadium concentration system and these vanadium-bearing proteins is still unknown, but the vanadocytes are later deposited just under the outer surface of the tunic, where they may deter predation.

[112] Vanadyl sulfate as a dietary supplement has been researched as a means of increasing insulin sensitivity or otherwise improving glycemic control in people who are diabetic.

[113][114] The conclusion of the systemic review was "There is no rigorous evidence that oral vanadium supplementation improves glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes.

"[113] In astrobiology, it has been suggested that discrete vanadium accumulations on Mars could be a potential microbial biosignature when used in conjunction with Raman spectroscopy and morphology.

Other effects have been reported after oral or inhalation exposures on blood parameters,[123][124] liver,[125] neurological development,[126] and other organs[127] in rats.

During combustion, vanadium oxidizes and reacts with sodium and sulfur, yielding vanadate compounds with melting points as low as 530 °C (986 °F), which attack the passivation layer on steel and render it susceptible to corrosion.