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Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) Process for Facile Electrosynthesis of Metal Carbides and Composites

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Abstract

Metal carbides (MCs) and composites including TiC, SiC, TaC, ZrC, NbC, Ti5Si3/TiC, and Nb/Nb5Si3 have been directly electrosynthesized from their stoichiometric metal oxides/carbon (MOs/C) mixture precursors by an innovative solid oxide membrane (SOM)-assisted electrochemical process. MOs/C mixture powders including TiO2/C, SiO2/C, Ta2O5/C, ZrO2/C, Nb2O5/C, TiO2/SiO2/C, Nb2O5/SiO2 were pressed to form porous pellets and then served as cathode precursors. A SOM-based anode, made from yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)-based membrane, was used to control the electroreduction process. The SOM electrochemical process was performed at 1273 K (1000 °C) and 3.5 to 4.0 V in molten CaCl2. The oxygen component contained in the MOs/C precursors was gradually removed during electroreduction process, and thus, MOs/C can be directly converted into MCs and composites at the cathode. The reaction mechanism of the electroreduction process and the characteristics of the obtained MCs and composites products were systematically investigated. The results show that the electrosynthesis process typically involves compounding, electroreduction, dissolution-electrodeposition, and in situ carbonization processes. The products can be predesigned and controlled to form micro/nanostructured MCs and composites. Multicomponent multilayer composites (MMCs) have also been tried to electrosynthesize in this work. It is suggested that the SOM-assisted electroreduction process has great potential to be used for the facile and green synthesis of various MCs and composites.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51304132, 51225401, and 51574164), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB643403), the Science and Technology Commissions of Shanghai Municipality (No. 14JC1491400) and the Young Teacher Training Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission for financial support. The authors also thank Professor George Z. Chen (University of Nottingham, UK), Professor Kathie McGregor (CSIRO, Australia), and Professor Toru Okabe (University of Tokyo, Japan) for the fruitful discussions during the Liquid Salt for Energy and Materials: Faraday Discussion, 11–13 May 2016, Ningbo, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Special Steel & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Ferrometallurgy & School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, People’s Republic of China

    Xingli Zou (Associate Professor), Xionggang Lu (Professor), Shangshu Li (Ph.D. Candidate), Qian Xu (Professor), Zhongfu Zhou (Professor) & Weizhong Ding (Professor, Lecturer)

  2. School of Materials and Metallurgy, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, People’s Republic of China

    Chaoyi Chen (Associate Professor)

  3. Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3BZ, UK

    Zhongfu Zhou (Professor)

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  1. Xingli Zou
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  2. Chaoyi Chen
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  3. Xionggang Lu
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  4. Shangshu Li
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Correspondence to Xingli Zou or Xionggang Lu.

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Manuscript submitted June 21, 2016.

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Zou, X., Chen, C., Lu, X. et al. Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) Process for Facile Electrosynthesis of Metal Carbides and Composites. Metall Mater Trans B 48, 664–677 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-016-0817-4

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