In Situ Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction Study of the Sol–Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C

Schnepp, Zoe; Danks, Ashleigh E.; Hollamby, Martin J.; Pauw, Brian R.; Murray, Claire A.; Tang, Chiu C.

Abstract

Sol–gel chemistry is a powerful tool for the synthesis of porous or nanocrystalline structures of a wide range of materials. The morphology and composition of the final product can be strongly dependent on the mechanism that operates during the heating step, as has been demonstrated in many investigations of binary, ternary, and quaternary metal oxides. We demonstrate the complex phase transformations occurring in a transition-metal carbide (Fe3C, cementite) synthesis using in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Our new study proves the existence of multiple intermediate phases and elucidates how oxide–nitride and nitride–carbide phase transformations can occur. This is particularly important as many transition-metal nitrides and carbides are metastable, which renders their stability windows sensitive to small changes in sol–gel methodology.

Citation

Schnepp, Z., Danks, A. E., Hollamby, M. J., Pauw, B. R., Murray, C. A., & Tang, C. C. (2015). In Situ Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction Study of the Sol–Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C. Chemistry of Materials, 27(14), 5094-5099. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01811

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 14, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 28, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 16, 2023
• Journal: Chemistry of Materials
• Print ISSN: 0897-4756
• Electronic ISSN: 1520-5002
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 14
• Pages: 5094-5099
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01811
• Keywords: Materials Chemistry; General Chemical Engineering; General Chemistry