Agglomeration-free VN nanoparticles with controllable crystallite size prepared by a clapboard approach from Zn-V-O based precursor

Abstract

Well dispersed vanadium nitride (VN) nanoparticles were successfully prepared by nitridation of Zn3(OH)2(V2O7)·(H2O)2 nanosheets followed by alkaline leaching. ZnO derived from Zn3(OH)2(V2O7)·(H2O)2 during nitridation process acted as a clapboard to prevent VN nanoparticles from growing up and agglomerating. In addition, the effects of NH3 flow rate, nitridation time and temperature on the crystallite size of VN nanoparticles were systemically investigated. The results showed that increasing NH3 flow rate from 100 mL min−1 to 600 mL min−1 resulted in an increase of the crystallite size from 17 nm to 22 nm, and prolonging nitridation time from 2 h to 8 h resulted in an increase from 15 nm to 24 nm. Additionally, the crystallite size of VN increased with the increase of the nitridation temperature. Furthermore, when the nitridation temperature was fixed at 550 °C, agglomeration-free VN nanoparticles with a specific surface area of 62.8 m2 g−1 and crystallite size in the range of 12–15 nm were synthesized. Moreover, this facile synthetic strategy can be extended further to synthesize other dispersed inorganic nanomaterials.