TY - JOUR A1 - Chambers, M. S. A1 - Hunter, R. D. A1 - Hollamby, M. J. A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Smith, A. J. A1 - Snow, T. A1 - Danks, A. E. A1 - Schnepp, Z. T1 - In Situ and Ex Situ X‑ray Diffraction and Small-Angle X‑ray Scattering Investigations of the Sol−Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C N2 - Iron nitride (Fe3N) and iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles can be prepared via sol−gel synthesis. While sol−gel methods are simple, it can be difficult to control the crystalline composition, i.e., to achieve a Rietveld-pure product. In a previous in situ synchrotron study of the sol−gel synthesis of Fe3N/Fe3C, we showed that the reaction proceeds as follows: Fe3O4 → FeOx → Fe3N → Fe3C. There was considerable overlap between the different phases, but we were unable to ascertain whether this was due to the experimental setup (side-on heating of a quartz capillary which could lead to thermal gradients) or whether individual particle reactions proceed at different rates. In this paper, we use in situ wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering (wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)) to demonstrate that the overlapping phases are indeed due to variable reaction rates. While the initial oxide nanoparticles have a small range of diameters, the size range expands considerably and very rapidly during the oxide−nitride transition. This has implications for the isolation of Rietveld-pure Fe3N, and in an extensive laboratory study, we were indeed unable to isolate phasepure Fe3N. However, we made the surprising discovery that Rietveld-pure Fe3C nanoparticles can be produced at 500 °C with a sufficient furnace dwell time. This is considerably lower than the previous reports of the sol−gel synthesis of Fe3C nanoparticles. KW - Small-angle X-ray Scattering KW - SAXS KW - Diffraction KW - XRD KW - Scattering KW - Sol-gel KW - Iron nitride KW - Nanoparticles KW - Iron carbide KW - Catalyst KW - In-situ KW - Ex-situ KW - Synthesis KW - Synchrotron PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548226 VL - 61 IS - 18 SP - 6742 EP - 6749 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington AN - OPUS4-54822 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hollamby, M. J. A1 - Smith, C. F. A1 - Britton, M. M. A1 - Danks, A. E. A1 - Schnepp, Z. A1 - Grillo, I. A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Kishimura, A. A1 - Nakanishi, T. T1 - The aggregation of an alkyl–C60 derivative as a function of concentration, temperature and solvent type N2 - Contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering (CV-SANS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of diffusion and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) are used to gain insight into the aggregation of an alkyl–C60 derivative, molecule 1, in n-hexane, n-decane and toluene as a function of concentration and temperature. Results point to an associative mechanism of aggregation similar to other commonly associating molecules, including non-ionic surfactants or asphaltenes in non-aqueous solvents. Little aggregation is detected in toluene, but small micelle-like structures form in n-alkane solvents, which have a C60-rich core and alkyl-rich shell. The greatest aggregation extent is found in n-hexane, and at 0.1 M the micelles of 1 comprise around 6 molecules at 25 °C. These micelles become smaller when the concentration is lowered, or if the solvent is changed to n-decane. The solution structure is also affected by temperature, with a slightly larger aggregation extent at 10 °C than at 25 °C. At higher concentrations, for example in solutions of 1 above 0.3 M in n-decane, a bicontinuous network becomes apparent. Overall, these findings aid our understanding of the factors driving the assembly of alkyl–π-conjugated hydrophobic amphiphiles such as 1 in solution and thereby represent a step towards the ultimate goal of exploiting this phenomenon to form materials with well-defined order. KW - Complex Molecular Systems KW - Supramolecules KW - Scattering PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-442977 VL - 20 IS - 5 SP - 3773 EP - 3380 PB - RSC AN - OPUS4-44297 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fletcher, D. C. A1 - Hunter, R. A1 - Xia, W. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Blackburn, E. A1 - Kulak, A. A1 - Xin, H. A1 - Schnepp, Z. T1 - Scalable synthesis of dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles by ‘nanocasting’ N2 - Metal carbides have shown great promise in a wide range of applications due to their unique catalytic, electrocatalytic and magnetic properties. However, the scalable production of dispersible metal carbide nanoparticles remains a challenge. Here, we report a simple and scalable route to dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles. This uses MgO nanoparticles as a removable ‘cast’ to synthesize Fe3C nanoparticles from Prussian blue (KFeIII[FeII(CN)6]). Electron tomography demonstrates how nanoparticles of the MgO cast encase the Fe3C nanoparticles to prevent sintering and agglomeration during the high-temperature synthesis. The MgO cast is readily removed with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to generate Fe3C nanoparticles that can be used to produce a colloidal ferrofluid or dispersed on a support material. KW - Small-angle scattering KW - SAXS KW - Metal carbides KW - Nanoparticles KW - Nanocasting PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-486295 SN - 2050-7488 SN - 2050-7496 VL - 7 IS - 33 SP - 19506 EP - 19512 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-48629 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hunter, R. D. A1 - Rowlandson, J. L. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Ting, V. P. A1 - Kulak, A. A1 - Schnepp, Z. T1 - The effect of precursor structure on porous carbons produced by iron-catalyzed graphitization of biomass N2 - This paper reports a systematic study into the effect of different biomass-derived precursors on the structure and porosity of carbons prepared via catalytic graphitization. Glucose, starch and cellulose are combined with iron nitrate and heated under a nitrogen atmosphere to produce Fe3C nanoparticles, which catalyze the conversion of amorphous carbon to graphitic nanostructures. The choice of organic precursor provides a means of controlling the catalyst particle size, which has a direct effect on the porosity of the material. Cellulose and glucose produce mesoporous carbons, while starch produces a mixture of micro- and mesopores under the same conditions and proceeds via a much slower graphitization step, generating a mixture of graphitic nanostructures and turbostratic carbon. Porous carbons are critical to energy applications such as batteries and electrocatalytic processes. For These applications, a simple and sustainable route to those carbons is essential. Therefore, the ability to control the precise structure of a biomass-derived carbon simply through the choice of precursor will enable the production of a new generation of energy materials. KW - SAXS KW - Porous carbons KW - Graphitization KW - Iron nanoparticles KW - Catalysis KW - Gas sorption PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-515531 VL - Royal Society of Chemistry SP - 1 EP - 11 AN - OPUS4-51553 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hunter, R. D. A1 - Hayward, E. C. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Kulak, A. A1 - Guan, S. A1 - Schnepp, Z. T1 - The effect of nitrogen on the synthesis of porous carbons by iron-catalyzed graphitization N2 - This paper reports a systematic study into the effect of nitrogen on iron-catalyzed graphitization of biomass. Chitin, chitosan, N-acetylglucosamine, gelatin and glycine were selected to represent nitrogen-rich saccharides and amino-acid/polypeptide biomass precursors. The materials were pyrolyzed with an iron catalyst to produce carbons with a wide range of chemical and structural features such as mesoporosity and nitrogen-doping. Many authors have reported the synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbons by pyrolysis and these have diverse applications. However, this is the first systematic study of how nitrogen affects pyrolysis of biomass and importantly the catalytic graphitization step. Our data demonstrates that nitrogen inhibits graphitization but that some nitrogen survives the catalytic graphitization process to become incorporated into various chemical environments in the carbon product. KW - Graphitization KW - Nanoparticles KW - Nanocomposite KW - Porous carbon KW - Nitrogen KW - Scattering PY - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-575351 VL - 4 SP - 2070 EP - 2077 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-57535 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -