Low-Temperature Synthesis of Titanium Oxynitride Nanoparticles.

Felicitas Jansen,Alexander J C Kuehne,Khosrow Rahimi,Tobias Caumanns,Andreas Hoffmann,Johanna Henkel

doi:10.3390/nano11040847

Abstract

The synthesis of transition metal oxynitrides is complicated by extreme reaction conditions such as high temperatures and/or high pressures. Here, we show an unprecedented solution-based synthesis of narrowly dispersed titanium oxynitride nanoparticles of cubic shape and average size of 65 nm. Their synthesis is performed by using titanium tetrafluoride and lithium nitride as precursors alongside trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) as stabilizers at temperatures as low as 250 °C. The obtained nanoparticles are characterized in terms of their shape and optical properties, as well as their crystalline rock-salt structure, as confirmed by XRD and HRTEM analysis. We also determine the composition and nitrogen content of the synthesized particles using XPS and EELS. Finally, we investigate the applicability of our titanium oxynitride nanoparticles by compounding them into carbon fiber electrodes to showcase their applicability in energy storage devices. Electrodes with titanium oxynitride nanoparticles exhibit increased capacity compared to the pure carbon material.

Highlights

Introductiontitanium oxynitride (TiON) nanoparticles are prepared via a solvothermal route, which involves annealing the respective oxide with ammonia at temperatures between 600 ◦ C and 850 ◦ C [2,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Transition metal oxynitrides, for example titanium oxynitride (TiON) nanoparticles, represent powerful active sites when added to photocatalytic devices, or to electrodes for capacitors, batteries, and fuel cells [1,2,3]
TiON nanoparticles are prepared via a solvothermal route, which involves annealing the respective oxide with ammonia at temperatures between 600 ◦ C and 850 ◦ C [2,4,5,6,7,8,9]

Summary

Introduction

TiON nanoparticles are prepared via a solvothermal route, which involves annealing the respective oxide with ammonia at temperatures between 600 ◦ C and 850 ◦ C [2,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Alternative routes require high pressures or complex reaction conditions, such as sol–gel preparation, laser pyrolysis, and plasma-supported atomic layer deposition [2,3,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Transition metal oxynitrides combine properties of both the pure metal oxides and the pure metal nitrides. While oxynitrides share good thermal and chemical stability with the corresponding metal oxide and metal nitride, oxides usually exhibit poor electrical conductivity but high capacitance [9,16,17,18]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion