Electrochemical synthesis of Nitrides

Nitrogen reduction with an electric current

The electrochemical synthesis of nitrides in salt melts is a new method without the use of harmful gases and high temperatures. We mostly use the anodic electrochemical synthesis carried out in a cell made of fused silica or steel. The electrolyte is a LiCl-KCl:Li3N (0.5 mol%) melt at 450 °C. Additionally, gaseous nitrogen is fed into the melt for the continuous supply of nitride ions.

The electrochemical synthesis of thin layers (e.g. TiN or AlN) is already known. We succesfully synthesized different microcrystalline binary nitrides such as ε-TaN or δ-NbN. Furthermore we obtained ternary nitrides such as Co3InN or Ni3InN with this method.

S. Lehmann, R. Niewa,„Electrochemical synthesis of highly nitrogen containing γ-FeN0.13 and ε-Fe3N1.51 in a molten salt system”,Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. in preparation.
 
S. Lehmann, B. Blaschkowski, R. Niewa,„Electrochemical bulk synthesis of ternary nitride perovskites: Co3InN and Ni3InN”Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. in preparation.
This image shows Rainer Niewa

Rainer Niewa

Prof. Dr. rer. nat.

Professor

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