Suppression of spinel formation to induce reversible thermal behavior in the layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of Co with Al, Fe, Ga, and In

Radha, AV and Thomas, Grace S and Kamath, Vishnu P and Shivakumara, C (2007) Suppression of spinel formation to induce reversible thermal behavior in the layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of Co with Al, Fe, Ga, and In. In: J. Phys. Chem. B, 111 (13). pp. 3384-3390.

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Abstract

The layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of Co with trivalent cations decompose irreversibly to yield oxides with the spinel structure. Spinel formation is aided by the oxidation of Co(II) to Co(III) in the ambient atmosphere. When the decomposition is carried out under N-2, the oxidation of Co(II) is suppressed, and the resulting oxide has the rock salt structure. Thus, the Co-Al-CO32-/Cl- LDHs yield oxides of the type Co1- Al-x(2x/3)rectangle O-x/3, which are highly metastable, given the large defect concentration. This defect oxide rapidly reverts back to the original hydroxide on soaking in a Na2CO3 solution. Interlayer NO3- anions, on the other hand, decompose generating a highly oxidizing atmosphere, whereby the Co-Al-NO3- LDH decomposes to form the spinel phase even in a N-2 atmosphere. The oxide with the defect rock salt structure formed by the thermal decomposition of the Co-Fe-CO32- LDH under N2, on soaking in a Na2CO3 solution, follows a different kinetic pathway and undergoes a solution transformation into the inverse spinel Co(Co, Fe)(2)O-4. Fe3+ has a low octahedral crystal field stabilization energy and therefore prefers the tetrahedral coordination offered by the structure of the inverse spinel rather than the octahedral coordination of the parent LDH. Similar considerations do not hold in the case of Ga- and In-containing LDHs, given the considerable barriers to the diffusion of M3+ (M=Ga, In) from octahedral to tetrahedral sites owing to their large size. Consequently, the In-containing oxide residue reverts back to the parent hydroxide, whereas this reconstruction is partial in the case of the Ga-containing oxide. These studies show that the reversible thermal behavior offers a competing kinetic pathway to spinel formation. Suppression of the latter induces the reversible behavior in an LDH that otherwise decomposes irreversibly to the spinel.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	J. Phys. Chem. B
Publisher:	ACS
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to ACS
Keywords:	hydrotalcites;zn;decomposition;rehydration;precursors; oxides;cl.
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	05 May 2010 04:47
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 06:01
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/27499

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