Grace Yuan
Research Mentor: Richard Laine
Mentor Department: Materials Science and Engineering, Engineering
Author(s): Grace Yuan, Zeyu Yi, Richard Laine
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 21
Abstract
This approach for the synthesis of single-metal and bimetallic nitride precursors, and the subsequent conversion into their corresponding nitrides, details a simple, low-temperature method that relies on the thermodynamic formation of stable silicon-oxygen bonds to drive metal-nitrogen bond formation. The approach reacts metal carboxylates or acetylacetonates with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS, Me3SiNHSiMe3). During this reaction process, silylated carboxylates or acetylacetonates are formed, allowing the formation of metal-nitride bonds in a metal-nitrogen-containing species. These silylated carboxylates and acetylacetonates are then easily removed by evaporation. Significantly, because typical solvents or waters of recrystallization react coincidently with HMDS to form siloxanes and ammonia, prepurification of the metal carboxylates is not necessary. The single and bi-metallic metal nitride precursor products are generally fully soluble, even as complex mixtures. Converting these products into their respective nitrides requires heating at mild temperatures, typically 400 °C or higher, under an inert atmosphere. This method has been applied using several metal precursors, such as manganese isobutyrate, and the method has been successfully used to produce single metal nitrides, including CoNx, FeNx, and NiN, and bi-metallic nitrides such as CoFeNx. The successful syntheses have demonstrated the efficacy of this low-temperature approach to synthesizing functional metal nitrides.
