A simple urea-based route to ternary metal oxynitride nanoparticles

Ternary metal oxynitrides are generally prepared by heating the corresponding metal oxides with ammonia for long durations at high temperatures. In order to find a simple route that avoids use of gaseous ammonia, we have employed urea as the nitriding agent. In this method, ternary metal oxynitrides are obtained by heating the corresponding metal carbonates and transition metal oxides with excess urea. By this route, ternary metal oxynitrides of the formulae MTaO2N (M=Ca, Sr or Ba), MNbO2N (M=Sr or Ba), LaTiO2N and SrMoO3−xNx have been prepared successfully. The oxynitrides so obtained were generally in the form of nanoparticles, and were characterized by various physical techniques.