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Zirconium ntride is a hard ceramic material similar to titanium nitride

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Author : TRUNNANO
Update time : 2021-02-11 09:57:35
What is zirconium nitride?
The zirconium nitride with the chemical formula ZrN has excellent corrosion resistance, high hardness, good lubricity and ductility. These properties also make it an attractive coating. The coating is deposited using methods such as physical vapor deposition. It comes in the form of a yellow crystalline powder or an attractive light golden coating.

The physical and chemical properties of zirconium nitride have a density of 7.09, a microhardness of about 9800~19600MPa, and a melting point (2980 plus or minus 50)°C. Zirconium nitride is insoluble in water, slightly soluble in inorganic acid, and soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid, hydrofluoric acid and aqua regia. Zirconium nitride (ZrN) is used in many ways due to its properties.
 
ZrN grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) is lightly golden, similar to elemental gold. The room temperature resistivity of ZrN is 12.0μΩ·cm, the temperature coefficient of resistivity is 5.6·10-8Ω·cm/K, the superconducting transition temperature is 10.4K, and the relaxation lattice parameter is 0.4575nm. The hardness of single-crystal ZrN is 22.7±1.7 GPa, and the elastic modulus is 450 GPa.
What is the use of zirconium nitride?
Zirconium nitride is a hard ceramic material similar to titanium nitride and a cement-like refractory material. Therefore, it can be used for refractory materials, cermets and laboratory crucibles. When the physical vapor deposition coating process is used for coating, it is usually used to coat medical equipment, industrial parts (especially drill bits), automotive and aerospace parts, and other parts that are prone to high wear and corrosive environments. When alloying with Al, the electronic structure develops from the local octahedral bond symmetry of cubic ZrN. As the Al content increases, this symmetry will be distorted, which becomes more complex and has a higher hardness.
It is recommended to use zirconium nitride as a hydrogen peroxide fuel tank lining for rockets and airplanes.
 
Zirconium nitride (Zr-N) compounds have various crystal structures that vary with the composition. For example, in the Zr-N alloy system, the alloy compounds that have been discovered are ZrN, o-Zr₃N₄ and c-Zr₃N₄. They not only have excellent chemical properties but also can be used not only for junctions, diffusion laminates, low-temperature instruments, etc. but also for three-dimensional integrated electric coils and metal-based transistors. At the same time, these Zr-N compounds are superior to pure zirconium in terms of wear resistance, oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance, and have a higher superconducting critical temperature, so they can become very good superconductors and have higher use-value.
 
Preparation of zirconium nitride powder
The synthesis of zirconium nitride powder mainly includes direct nitridation of Zr metal with nitrogen, high-energy reactive ball milling (RBM), microwave plasma method, benzene thermal method, aluminum reduction nitridation, magnesium thermal reduction, carbothermal reduction nitridation (CRN), and direct carbon thermal nitriding of zirconia (CN) (ZrO 2) and zircon and other CRN and CN processes. Suitable routes for various sizes and particle morphologies. Fibers, microspheres, membranes and blocks Materials, and has the possibility of mass production of zirconium nitride and other transition metal nitrides. Because of the formation of solid solution in the ZrN-ZrC-'ZrO" system, it should be noted that the final product nitriding in CRN or CN is usually represented by the following formula Zr (N, C, O). CRN process Two-step heat treatment is required. Before that, zirconium carbide (ZrC) is produced as an intermediate and then converted into nitrite. However, the CN process is the direct nitridation of ZrO2 in the presence of carbon, and only one heat treatment is required. Therefore, The latter may be more energy-efficient and time-saving in preparing zirconium nitride powder.
 
Zirconium nitride catalyst surpasses platinum in oxygen reduction
Platinum (Pt)-based materials are an important part of microelectronic sensors, anti-cancer drugs, automotive catalytic converters and electrochemical energy conversion equipment. Pt is currently the most common catalyst used in oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, although its scalable use is limited by its scarcity, cost, and susceptibility to toxicity. Here, we show that nano-particle zirconium nitride (ZrN) can replace or even exceed Pt as a catalyst for ORR in alkaline environments. The synthesized ZrN nanoparticles (NPs) have high oxygen reduction performance and have the same activity as the widely used carbon-supported platinum (Pt/C) commercial catalyst. Both materials have the same half-wave potential (E1 / 2 = 0.80 V) after 1000 ORR cycles, and ZrN has a higher stability than Pt / C catalyst (ΔE1/ 2 than = -3 mV) (ΔE1 / 2 = -3 mV). In 0.1 M KOH. In zinc-air batteries, ZrN also shows higher power density and cycle capability than Pt/C. Replacing Pt with ZrN may reduce costs and promote the use of electrochemical energy devices, and ZrN may also be useful in other catalytic systems.
 
Enhanced photoluminescence coupled with a periodic array of organic dyes and zirconium nitride nanoparticles
Noble metals, especially gold, have been routinely used due to their suitable optical properties in the field of plasma technology. However, the melting temperature of gold is relatively low, especially in the case of nanoscale, the content of gold in the earth's crust is low. These material-related limitations hinder the exploration of the use of plasmons in multiple application fields. Transition metal nitrides have high mechanical and thermal stability and have acceptable plasma characteristics in the visible spectrum, so they are promising material substitutes. Zirconium nitride (ZrN) is such a promising alternative because its carrier density is higher than that of titanium nitride (TiN), and titanium nitride (TiN) is the most studied gold Supplementary materials. In this study, we fabricated a periodic array of ZrN nanoparticles and found that the ZrN array enhanced the photoluminescence of the organic dyes on the array; in the visible light region, the photoluminescence intensity increased by 9.7 times. The results verified through experiments that ZrN can be used as an alternative to gold to further develop plasmons and alleviate the limitations associated with conventional materials.
 
TRUNNANO (aka. Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd.) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years' experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. Currently, our company has successfully developed a series of materials. The zirconium nitride powder produced by our company has high purity, fine particle size and impurity content. Send us an email or click on the needed products to send an inquiry.
 
 
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