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Elizabeth Blackburn. Portrait.

Elizabeth Blackburn

Professor

Elizabeth Blackburn. Portrait.

Scalable synthesis of dispersible iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles by 'nanocasting'

Author

  • D. C. Fletcher
  • R. Hunter
  • W. Xia
  • G. J. Smales
  • B. R. Pauw
  • E. Blackburn
  • A. Kulak
  • Huolin Xin
  • Z. Schnepp

Summary, in English

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 higherature 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.

Publishing year

2019-01-01

Language

English

Pages

19506-19512

Publication/Series

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Volume

7

Issue

33

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Topic

  • Materials Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics (including Material Physics, Nano Physics)

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2050-7488