Selective Preparation of Mo2N and MoN with High Surface Area for Flexible SERS Sensing

gamma-Mo2N and delta-MoN are the two most important molybdenum nitrides, but controllable preparation of them with high surface area has not been achieved. Herein, we achieved selective preparation of delta-Mo2N and delta-MoN. The key factor for the selective preparation of gamma-Mo2N and delta-MoN is to control the crystal phase of the precursor MoO3. In H2O and NH3 mixed gas, the alpha-MoO3 nanoribbons are nitridated to obtain gamma-Mo2N single-crystal porous nanobelts, while the h-MoO3 prisms are nitrided to obtain delta-MoN hierarchical porous columns. The corrosion effect of H2O plays a key role in the formation of single-crystal porous structure. The gamma-Mo2N flexible membrane composed of the singlecrystal porous nanobelts exhibits strong localized surface plasmon resonance and surface enhanced Raman scattering effect, which show highly sensitive response to polychlorinated phenol.

Automated summary

The selective preparation of delta-Mo2N and delta-MoN was successfully achieved through controlling the crystal phase of the precursor MoO3. The corrosion effect of H2O played a key role in the formation of single-crystal porous structures.