Additive-assisted synthesis of boride, carbide, and nitride micro/nanocrystals

General and simple methods for the syntheses of borides, carbides and nitrides are highly desirable, since those materials have unique physical properties and promising applications. Here, a series of boride (TiB2, ZrB2, NbB2, CeB6, PrB6, SmB6, EuB6, LaB6), carbide (SiC, TiC, NbC, WC) and nitride (TiN, BN, AlN, MgSiN2, VN) micro/nanocrystals were prepared from related oxides and amorphous boron/active carbon/NaN3 with the assistance of metallic Na and elemental S. In-situ temperature monitoring showed that the reaction temperature could increase quickly to ∼850 °C, once the autoclave was heated to 100 °C. Such a rapid temperature increase was attributed to the intense exothermic reaction between Na and S, which assisted the formation of borides, carbides and nitrides. The as-obtained products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and HRTEM techniques. Results in this report will greatly benefit the future extension of this approach to other compounds.