A novel and facile synthetic route to MMo (M = Ni or Co) bimetallic phosphides

Abstract

A novel and facile route to bimetallic molybdenum phosphides was described. Both NiMoP and CoMoP phosphides were successfully prepared by a hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) route. Mixed-salt precursors containing HMT, M-HMT (M = Ni, Co or Mo) complexes, MMo-HMT (M = Ni or Co) complexes and P-containing species can be directly converted to bimetallic molybdenum phosphides under a flow of Ar at 800 °C. It was proposed that the bimetallic phosphides were formed via two possible reaction pathways: (i) MMo-HMT complexes/P→MMoP (M = Ni or Co) and (ii) M-HMT (M = Ni, Co or Mo) complexes/P→M₂P/MoP→MMoP (M = Ni or Co). Additionally, it was found that the dispersions and surface areas of NiMoP and CoMoP prepared by HMT route were higher than those of corresponding bimetallic phosphides prepared by traditional H₂ reduction method.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Bimetallic molybdenum phosphide
• NiMoP
• CoMoP
• hexamethylenetetramine
• formation mechanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21978125), the Project of Liaoning Province Department of Education (No. L2017LZD003), the Program for Liaoning Innovative Talents in University (No. LR2018070), the Liaoning Province Natural Science Foundation (No. 20180551272) and the Public Welfare Project of Guizhou Province (No. 2016-09-1).