TY - JOUR

T1 - Mechanochemical route to the synthesis of nanostructured Aluminium nitride

AU - Rounaghi, Seyyed Amin

AU - Eshghi, H.

AU - Scudino, Sergio

AU - Vyalikh, A.

AU - Vanpoucke, D. E P

AU - Gruner, Wolfgang

AU - Oswald, Stefan

AU - Kiani Rashid, A. R.

AU - Khoshkhoo, Mohsen Samadi

AU - Scheler, U.

AU - Eckert, Jürgen

PY - 2016/9/21

Y1 - 2016/9/21

N2 - Hexagonal Aluminium nitride (h-AlN) is an important wide-bandgap semiconductor material which is conventionally fabricated by high temperature carbothermal reduction of alumina under toxic ammonia atmosphere. Here we report a simple, low cost and potentially scalable mechanochemical procedure for the green synthesis of nanostructured h-AlN from a powder mixture of Aluminium and melamine precursors. A combination of experimental and theoretical techniques has been employed to provide comprehensive mechanistic insights on the reactivity of melamine, solid state metal-organic interactions and the structural transformation of Al to h-AlN under non-equilibrium ball milling conditions. The results reveal that melamine is adsorbed through the amine groups on the Aluminium surface due to the long-range van der Waals forces. The high energy provided by milling leads to the deammoniation of melamine at the initial stages followed by the polymerization and formation of a carbon nitride network, by the decomposition of the amine groups and, finally, by the subsequent diffusion of nitrogen into the Aluminium structure to form h-AlN.

AB - Hexagonal Aluminium nitride (h-AlN) is an important wide-bandgap semiconductor material which is conventionally fabricated by high temperature carbothermal reduction of alumina under toxic ammonia atmosphere. Here we report a simple, low cost and potentially scalable mechanochemical procedure for the green synthesis of nanostructured h-AlN from a powder mixture of Aluminium and melamine precursors. A combination of experimental and theoretical techniques has been employed to provide comprehensive mechanistic insights on the reactivity of melamine, solid state metal-organic interactions and the structural transformation of Al to h-AlN under non-equilibrium ball milling conditions. The results reveal that melamine is adsorbed through the amine groups on the Aluminium surface due to the long-range van der Waals forces. The high energy provided by milling leads to the deammoniation of melamine at the initial stages followed by the polymerization and formation of a carbon nitride network, by the decomposition of the amine groups and, finally, by the subsequent diffusion of nitrogen into the Aluminium structure to form h-AlN.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84988876324&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/srep33375

DO - 10.1038/srep33375

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84988876324

VL - 6.2016

JO - Scientific reports (London : Nature Publishing Group)

JF - Scientific reports (London : Nature Publishing Group)

SN - 2045-2322

M1 - 33375

ER -