Thermal stability and decomposition kinetics of NdNiO3−δ at 1 bar of O2

Abstract

Despite the interest in rare-earth nickelates for applications, their processing under 1 bar of oxygen pressure is still challenging. In this work, we report the co-precipitation synthesis, thermal stability and thermally driven decomposition of NdNiO3 phase, in order to determine the synthesis parameters towards a pure perovskite phase. We concluded that using a 1% molar excess of Nd during preparation and posterior annealing at around 900 °C at 1 bar of O2 yields an almost pure NdNiO3−δ phase (with a hexagonal Nd2O3 phase below 0.6% molar), with an oxygen deficiency of δ = 0.082 ± 0.001. The decomposition of the NdNiO3−δ phase into Nd4Ni3O10 and NiO was found to start above 900 °C. On further heating, above 1050 °C, the Nd4Ni3O10 decomposes into Nd2NiO4 and NiO phases. Structural parameters and Raman spectra are provided for the NdNiO3, Nd4Ni3O10 and Nd2NiO4 compounds.