Low temperature synthesis of nanoscale titanium nitride via molten-salt-mediated magnesiothermic reduction

We investigate a new method for the synthesis of nanoscale titanium nitride via a molten-salt-mediated reduction route; the reaction was carried out at a temperature of 600–1100   °C for 1–7   h in a nitrogen atmosphere using TiO 2 and Mg powders as starting materials. The effects of the TiO 2 /Mg mole ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time and salts on the formation of TiN were studied. The phase composition, morphological structure, and particle size of the TiN powder were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy , and a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific-surface-area analysis. The results showed that the as-synthesized TiN crystals were approximately 5–30   nm in size and the specific surface areas of the TiN particles were 76.47–93.09   m 2 /g, higher than the 9.83   m 2 /g of the raw TiO 2 . A possible reaction mechanism for the formation of TiN powder in molten salt is proposed.