Topotactic Nitrogen Transfer: Structural Transformation in Cobalt Molybdenum Nitrides

The temperature-programmed reaction of Co3Mo3N under H-2/Ar results in a new nitride with composition Co6Mo6N. Powder neutron diffraction (PND) studies have confirmed unequivocally that the compound possesses the eta-12 carbide structure, in which N atoms are exclusively located at 8a crystallographic sites, as opposed to the 16c sites exclusively occupied in the Co3Mo3N phase. On this basis, it possible to rationalize the observation that 50% nitrogen loss occurs under the high-temperature reduction conditions employed. Reaction of the reduced eta-12 phase under N-2/H-2 results in the regeneration of the eta-6 Co3Mo3N nitride and return of nitrogen to the 16c sites (only). Although established for corresponding ternary carbide structures, the eta-12 carbide structure is unprecedented in nitrides and a topotactic cycling between eta-carbide structures is hitherto unknown. The ammonia synthesis activity of the eta-6 nitride at ambient pressure and 400 degrees C is 167 mu mol g(-1) h(-1), whereas the eta-12 structure is unstable and reverts back to the eta-6 structure under reaction conditions. Studies of the magnetic properties of the cobalt molybdenum nitrides demonstrate that both the eta-6 and eta-12 nitrides exhibit no long-range magnetic ordering and are superparamagnetic, although the coercive field (H-c) observed in magnetization measurements is diminished in the reduced nitride.