Wet chemical synthesis and a combined X-ray and Mössbauer study of the formation of FeSb2 nanoparticles

Christina S. Birkel, Gregor Kieslich, Dimitrios Bessas, Tania Claudio, Robert Branscheid, Ute Kolb, Martin Panthöfer, Raphaël P. Hermann, Wolfgang Tremel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Understanding how solids form is a challenging task, and few strategies allow for elucidation of reaction pathways that are useful for designing the synthesis of solids. Here, we report a powerful solution-mediated approach for formation of nanocrystals of the thermoelectrically promising FeSb2 that uses activated metal nanoparticles as precursors. The small particle size of the reactants ensures minimum diffusion paths, low activation barriers, and low reaction temperatures, thereby eliminating solid-solid diffusion as the rate-limiting step in conventional bulk-scale solid-state synthesis. A time- and temperature-dependent study of formation of nanoparticular FeSb2 by X-ray powder diffraction and iron-57 Mössbauer spectroscopy showed the incipient formation of the binary phase in the temperature range of 200-250 °C.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11807-11812
Number of pages6
JournalInorganic Chemistry
Volume50
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 21 2011
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Wet chemical synthesis and a combined X-ray and Mössbauer study of the formation of FeSb2 nanoparticles'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this