Plasma-assisted elaboration of macropore architectures in titanium nitride

Titanium nitride (TiN) is prepared via a convenient direct nitridation process in an improved direct current arc discharge plasma setup. The XRD pattern shows that the as-prepared coarse particles are single-phase TiN possessing a face-centered cubic lattice with the cell constant a = 0.4242 nm. SEM studies reveal that the TiN powders are composed of unique macropore architectures with the pore sizes in the range of 0.2–2.0 μm and the thickness of the side walls in the range of 0.2–0.5 μm. The macroporous nature of the obtained TiN sample is further confirmed by N2 adsorption–desorption measurements, through which a specific surface area to be about 13.57 m2 g−1 is determined by using the BET gas adsorption method.