Synthesis of crystalline metal nitride and metal carbide nanostructures by sol–gel chemistry

SummaryAttention toward nanosized metal nitrides and carbides is rapidly increasing thanks to their chemical characteristics that make them as valid and sustainable alternatives to noble metals in catalysis and to air-sensitive metals or oxides for applications under harsh conditions. They are mostly used as bulk phase or micron sized powders, due to an intrinsic difficulty to synthesize them as nanoparticles in a systematic and scalable fashion. However, nanosized metal nitrides and carbides could exhibit improved performances, e.g. in catalysis due to a higher surface area, and can be shaped more easily than corresponding larger grains for further specific applications. Recently, sol–gel chemistry has closed this gap and now enables the simple, cheap, and sustainable production of metal nitride and carbide nanoparticles.In the present review we give an overview on recent sol–gel based pathways for the synthesis of metal nitride and carbide nanoparticles, believing that a better knowledge of the potentialities of these still hardly touched materials stimulates research interest and applications.

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► We describe and compare several sol–gel based routes toward metal nitride and carbide nanoparticles.
► Metal nitrides and carbides are valuable alternatives to pure metals and metal oxides in material applications.
► Novel synthesis to some special materials such as photo-active metal nitrides was shown.
► Sol–gel was shown to be a versatile route for the production of complexes shape, i.e. fibres.
► We also present some processing methods toward mechanical resistant MN/MC films and coatings.