Transition Metal (Fe, Co and Ni) Carbide and Nitride Nanomaterials: Structure, Chemical Synthesis and Applications

Abstract

Nanostructured transition metal (Fe, Co and Ni) carbides and nitrides have attracted much attention due to their active properties in variousa reass uch as nanomagnetism, biomedicine, electrocatalysis, and environmental applications. Generally,t he intrinsically harsh characteristics of carbides and nitrides make their synthetic protocols difficult, especially at the nanoscale, but usually come with improved performance in specific applications.I nt his Focus Review, we give an overview of iron, cobalt, and nickel carbidea nd nitride nanostructures with af ocus on the interactions between the electronic and magnetics tructures and their relation to the crystallographic structure. We also discussb oth traditional and de novo synthetic strategies, and their applications in various areasf rom biomedicine to environmental applications.

Recent Advances in Surfactant‐Free, Surface‐Charged, and Defect‐Rich Catalysts Developed by Laser Ablation and Processing in Liquids

“…Carbide NPs are gaining increasing attention for energy conversion and storage applications owing to their high corrosion resistance and low electrical resistance properties . Many methods are available to synthesize carbide NPs, such as solid‐state reactions, sonochemistry‐based methods, and solution‐based methods . Compared with these techniques, which require either high temperature, high pressure, or multiple steps, LAL offers a one‐step synthetic approach.…”

“…[160] Many methods are availablet os ynthesize carbide NPs, such as solidstate reactions, sonochemistry-based methods, and solutionbased methods. [161] Compared with these techniques, which require either high temperature, high pressure, or multiple steps, LAL offers ao ne-step synthetic approach. Al arge variety of carbon-coated carbideN Ps have been synthesized by LAL in organic solvents (e.g.,e thanol and acetone),i ncluding Ta C@C, [162] NbC@C, [162] HfC@C, [162] MoC@C, [162] W 2 C@C, [163] and Co 3 C@C. [164] The carbide formationm echanism is still under debate.…”

Transition Metal Carbide Complex Architectures for Energy‐Related Applications

“…TMCs have large families of members, mainly including the group IVB‐VIB transition metal carbides, along with VIIIB transition metal carbides of Fe, Co, Ni, some bimetallic carbides, as well as their hybrids . Generally, TMCs were typically synthesized by directly heating the metal species and carbon/organic compounds with the temperature‐programmed reduction (TPR) method, in which the high temperature can drive the force for pyrolysis of the carbon/organic species to react with the metals to form TMCs . However, this method usually involves a relatively high temperature, due to the high melting point of TMCs, and will lead to aggregation and/or excessive growth of TMCs to form a large‐size bulk with a low specific surface area and poor porosity, which is not beneficial for their further applications.…”

“…Up to now, several summarized articles about the synthesis and applications of TMCs in the field of energy storage and conversion have been reported . However, in this review, we mainly focus on the structural design of TMCs by various strategies to provide the unique architectural advantages for improving their electrochemical energy storage and conversion performances.…”

Transition Metal (Fe, Co and Ni)−Carbide−Nitride (M−C−N) Nanocatalysts: Structure and Electrocatalytic Applications

“…Additionally, the strong coupling interactions between MC and MN domains further improved their stability. Various superior M−C−N nanocrystals have been successfully fabricated . For example, the ultrathin Ni−C−N nanosheets shows a boosting catalysts with excellent performance for HER at all‐pH values for its intrinsic metallic property and enhanced exposure of active sites; the Fe−C−N shows superior electrocatalytic performance for the Fe−N 4 active central; and the Co−C−N with tunable valence state of Co shows superior activity, especially for OER .…”