Syntheses of metal nitrides, metal carbides and rare-earth metal dioxymonocarbodiimides from metal oxides and dicyandiamide

We design a facile and efficient solid-state reaction method by selecting an organic reagent dicyandiamide and metal oxides as precursors to prepare metal nitrides, carbides and rare-earth metal dioxymonocarbodiimides in sealed ampoules. Some fine divided nitride and carbide nanoparticles with small and uniform size can be easily obtained at the relatively low temperatures. It is interesting to find that dicyandiamide is not only a highly efficient nitridation reagent but also a highly efficient carburization reagent, and can be used as a precursor to directly synthesize rare-earth metal dioxymonocarbodiimides. A possible mechanism is proposed to explain the results of the reactions between the organic reagent and metal oxides. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.