Synthesis of carbon coated tungsten carbide nano powder using hexane as carbon source and its structural, thermal and electrocatalytic properties

•Tungsten carbide nano powder was synthesized using hexane as carbon source.•Formation of WC occurs through formation of lower tungsten oxide.•CO2/CO ratio effect the formation of WC.•The thickness of carbon coating affects the activity of WC.

In this study, carbon coated WC nano powder was prepared by a single step reaction through in situ reduction and carburization of WO3 in the presence of Mg catalyst and C6H14 as a carbon source. Rietveld structural refinement of X-ray diffraction data is confirmed the formation of first low temperature phase W2C (hexagonal; P63/mmc) followed by WC (hexagonal; P-6m2) phase. Reaction temperature as well as synthesis time facilitates the reduction and carburization of tungsten oxide(s) which affect the value of strain, particle size, bond angle (W–C–W) and percentage of surface carbon. Thermo gravimetric analysis of the synthesized product was done to assess the thermal stability in air. TEM images confirmed the faceted morphology of synthesized powder sample whereas inter planar spacing from HRTEM image confirmed the formation of WC nano particles. From the cyclic voltammetry (CV) plot, it is clear that the synthesized samples can be used as electrodes, which show better performance for electro oxidation in acidic media.