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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.
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.