A novel method to synthesize vanadium carbide (V8C7) nanopowders by thermal processing NH4VO3, C6H12O6 and urea

Vanadium carbide (V8C7) nanopowders can be synthesized by thermal processing the precursor of ammonium vanadate (NH4VO3), glucose (C6H12O6) and urea. The products were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The results show that the single-phase V8C7 powders can be obtained at 1000 °C for 1 h. The powders exhibit the morphology of square or spheroidal and consist of multiple particles ∼200 nm in size. The surface of the specimen mainly consists of V, C and O three species elements. The V 2p peaks with the binding energy of 517.4, 516.2 and 513.6 eV are assigned to the V 2p3/2 species of V2O5, VO2 and V8C7, respectively. The XPS spectrum of O 1s energy region for vanadium carbide contains two peaks corresponding to OH− (532.2 eV) and V5+ (530.4 eV). The BET specific surface area, the average pore size and the measured are 17.60 m2/g, 2.44 nm and 0.06 cm3/g, respectively.