Abstract

Magnesium based niobium oxides (Mg–Nb–O) were prepared by solid-state reactions owing to understand the function of transition metal oxides as promoters/catalysts for practical application. Magnesium niobate (Mg3Nb6O11) was synthesized for the first time in nearly pure form reported in this context. MgNb2O6 and Mg4Nb2O9 were prepared in oxidizing conditions; on the contrary, Mg3Nb6O11 preferred reducing environment. Stoichiometric mixtures of the precursor materials MgO, Nb2O5 and/or metallic Nb were annealed for the syntheses which revealed the effect of temperature on phase formation, reaction kinetics and heat of reaction. The products were examined by ex-situ, in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Crystallographic parameters of various binary and ternary compounds (Mg/Nb/O) formed in different calcination conditions, were extracted by Rietveld method. In-situ experiment results in single step reaction for the MgNb2O6 synthesis and the heat of formation of the solid-state reaction obtained to be minimum (93 kJ/mol). In contrast, the formation of Mg4Nb2O9 and Mg3Nb6O11 compounds towards pure phases rather complicated due to multistep reactions and corresponding heat of formation were estimated to be 140 and 190 kJ/mol. Experimental results have been discussed based on kinetic and thermodynamic constrains.

Highlights

  • Hydrogen storage represents an important step in the development of hydrogen economy and various storage systems were reported in the literatures

  • The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns monitored along the process of formation of M­ gNb2O6, ­Mg4Nb2O9 and ­Mg3Nb6O11 are reported in the Figs. 1, 2 and 3, respectively and the phase abundance estimated by Rietveld refinement has been inserted in Tables 1, 2 and 3

  • In this work three Magnesium based niobium oxides (Mg–Nb–O) compounds of ­MgNb2O6, ­Mg4Nb2O9 and ­Mg3Nb6O11 were successfully prepared by solid-state reactions and the formation mechanism was characterized by means of XRD performed both in-situ and ex-situ

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Summary

Introduction

Hydrogen storage represents an important step in the development of hydrogen economy and various storage systems were reported in the literatures Among these systems, magnesium hydride (­MgH2) is an interesting material for ­H2 ­storage[1,2] owing to high abundance in the lithosphere, cost-effective and less toxic ­properties[3,4]. During preparation of ­MgNb2O6 compound from the starting materials (MgO and ­Nb2O5), ­MgNb2O6 phase of columbite structure is usually obtained including corundum-like ­Mg4Nb2O929. Crystallographic, microstructural and morphological features of ­MgNb2O6 and M­ g4Nb2O9 compounds were reported ­elsewhere[30]. They are stable phases at room temperature explored by You et al.[31]. Proper selection of starting materials, calcination conditions to be optimized and reaction mechanism aiming to have pure phases not yet studied in details

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Conclusion

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